Representing and Experiencing Islamic Domes

Images, Cosmology, and Circumambulation

Bibliographic Data

ID3582779
AuthorsShunhua Jin (0009-0007-2315-4423, Fudan University, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume13
Issue6
Pages526
Publication date2022-06-08
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel13060526
OpenAlexW4282559701
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited21

Lindsay Jones developed the concept of "ritual-architectural event", according to which the meaning of a sacred building depends upon the participant's experience of it in the course of the rituals they perform. Starting from such approach, and taking the Islamic dome as my subject-matter, I examine the correlations that link architectural forms, ritual performance, and participants' experience into a whole. I first survey a corpus of images related to domes in two types of manuscripts (poetry, and pilgrimage narratives), showing how these images suggest cosmological patterns. The second part unfolds these representations, proceeding from cosmology to ritual. The third and last part focuses on circumambulation as the ritual experience that best embodies the previously identified cosmological patterns. The connection between the three dimensions discussed here is ascertained by the fact that the combination of circle and square structures relates both to Islamic graphic representations and ritual practices. An aesthetic/spiritual experience is awakened both in the mind and in the bodily senses of the viewer/practitioner: When Muslims stand under a dome, in front of the mihrab, thus facing Mecca, and when they behold the dome under which they stand, the view of this circular space possibly translates into a kind of mental and spiritual circumambulation. The conclusion suggests that the meaning attached to sacred architecture places is triggered by a complex of interactions between patterns referred respectively to the mind, bodily actions, and cultural settings

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Behold · Contemplation · Epistemology · Islam · Linguistics · Literature · Narrative · Pilgrimage · Sociology · Visual arts · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Architecture and Cultural Influences · Computer Science · Historical and Architectural Studies · History · Philosophy · Architecture · Geology

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