Decorations of the Carved Built-in Column in the Corners of the Cairene Religious Buildings during the Circassian Mamluk Era

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Guidance Department, Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, University of Sadat City

Abstract

The carved built-in column is one of the distinctive architectural ornaments that was commonly used to decorate the corners of Islamic architectural buildings in Egypt. Although its function is very similar to the combined column, we can notice that there is a clear difference between them, as the carved built-in column is formed as a result of a carving process in the corner of the building in a decorative way, so it is formed from the same type of the building’s material. As for the combined column, it is prepared separately and then integrated into the wall or the building. This resulted in several structural and decorative features that characterize the built-in column rather than the combined one, which is represented in that it is more durable and has proportional dimensions to the building, in addition, it has a distinctive aesthetic appearance. Therefore, the Muslim architects employed it as an architectural ornament that was often used to decorate corners of the facades, especially in the Circassian Mamluk era, which witnessed a remarkable diversity in the decorations of these columns, in which the artist was creative and innovative in implementing these decorations. Therefore, this research aims to study the ornaments of the carved built-in columns in the corners of the religious buildings in Cairo during the Circassian Mamluk era. The research presented a number of important results, such as shed light on the decoration patterns executed on the body of the column during that era, which varied greatly between zigzag decorations, Arabesque, geometrical designs, spiral lines, and so on. 

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