Qubba

Categorized as Terms

Qubba

Heba Mostafa

Related Terms:

  • Bimaristan (hospital)
  • Maqsura (enclosure near the mihrab)
  • Muqarnas (ornamental molding)
  • Pendentive (concave triangular section of vaulting)
  • Qibla (direction of the Kaʿba in Mecca)

Related Khamseen Videos:

Glaire Anderson, “The Mihrab of the Great Mosque of Córdoba,” Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, published 19 October 2020.

Heba Mostafa, “Dome of the Rock: Original Mosaics,” Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, published 28 August 2020.

References:

Bloom, Jonathan M. “The ‘Qubbat al-Khaḍrā’’ and the Iconography of Height in Early Islamic Architecture.” Ars Orientalis 23 (1993): 135–41.

Grabar, Oleg. “From Dome of Heaven to Pleasure Dome.” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 49, no. 1 (1990): 15–21. 

Rabbat, Nasser. “Mamluk Throne Halls: ‘Qubba’ or ‘Iwān?’” Ars Orientalis 23 (1993): 201–18.

Tabbaa, Yasser. “The Muqarnas Dome: Its Origin and Meaning.” Muqarnas 3 (1985): 61–74. 

Citation:

Heba Mostafa, “Qubba,” Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, published 2 November 2021.

Heba Mostafa is Associate Professor of Islamic art and architecture in the Department of Art History at the University of Toronto, St George Campus, as well as Senior Fellow at Massey College. She received her doctorate from Cambridge University’s Department of Architecture in 2012. Her research focuses on the formation of Islamic architecture as well as Islam’s interface with late antiquity, Christianity, and Judaism through commemorative architecture, pilgrimage, and ritual practice, with a particular focus on Jerusalem and Cairo.  Her current project explores nature veneration practices in medieval Cairo, with a focus on the Nilometer at al-Rawda Island, bringing into conversation the mediatory role of nature in reconciling the religious, spiritual, and scientific contexts in medieval Islam. She is the author of Architecture of Anxiety: Body Politics and the Formation of Islamic Architecture (Brill, 2024).