Lesson 4. Oriental Architecture

Exercise 1. Read and pronounce correctly the following words:

Sphinks, ancon, distinct, distinquish, dwelling, curving, lighting, rectangular, interlacing, single, angle.

Extrados, exedra, experiment, extend, expand, exclusion, exhibition, execute exit.

Example, exhibit, exaggerate, exact, examine.

Exercise 2. Form new words with the help of prefixes, translate them:

non-: architectural, residential, bearing, European, eclectic, classical, competitor.

mis-: information, inform, fortune, arrange, arrangement, interpret, interpretation.

Exercise 3. Give descriptive translation of the following word combinations, see the model:

An upward-slanting roof – a roof slanting upward, a roof that slants upward.

A pleasant-looking house, a square-looking room, noise-absorbing materials, a brick-making machine, low-hanging cornices, a home-building company, time-consuming operations.

Exercise 4. Find in the text words which have the same root in Ukrainian. Copy them out.

Exercise 5. Words for the text comprehension:

abundant	багатий, щедрий, рясний
ban	заборона
bracket	кронштейн, консоль, підпора
crenellation	бійниця
bulbous dome	цибулеподібний купол або склепіння
faith	віра, довіра
horseshoe	підкова
interlacing	арки з п’ятами, розміщеними між колонами
multifoil	багатопелюстковий
stucco	стуко, стюк
tile	плитка, черепиця, ізразець
glazed tile	глазурована плитка, кахель
in the wake of	вслід за

Exercise 6. Read and translate text A, be ready to finish this sentences:

1. Islamic architecture has such synonymous name as … .

2. It flourished in such countries as … .

3. The most prominent Muslim architecture uses are ….

4. From the Christian basilica evolved a new building type or … characterized by … . The surfaces of Muslim buildings were embellished with … .

Text a. Oriental Architecture: islam

Islamic, Muslim or Moslem architecture is the architecture of the peoples of Islamic faith. Its development from the 7-th to the 16-th centuries is also called Mohammedan, Muhammadan, Mhometan or Saracenic architecture. Muslim architecture expanded throughout the Mediterranean world and as far as China and India, this taking place in the wake of Muhammadan conquests of Syria and Egypt, Mesopotamia and Iran, North Africa and Spain, Central Asia and India. From those countries Saracenic architecture absorbed in turn elements of art and architecture, producing a variety of great regional works and local decorative styles.

A new building type was developed from the Christian basilica- the multi-aisled, arcaded, columnar or pillared mosque. With the 12-th century from the vaulted, centrally organized Byzantine and Sassanian structures came the development of medresa( madrasah) or teaching mosque. At first it was associated with the Seljuks in Anatolia (Ancient Turkey) and Persia and with the Ayyubids in Egypt. The medresa and the mausoleum often formed a single and imposing mausoleum medresa complex.

Moslem architecture uses many variations of basic architectural elements: pointed, round, horseshoe, "Persian", multifoil and interlacing arches, bulbous, ribbed, conical and melon domes, tunnel, cross-rib, and stalactite vaults, a wide variety of crenellations. Surfaces are covered by abundant geometric ornament (geometric because of the ban on human and animal representation), rich floral and calligraphic decorations executed in stone, brick, stucco, wood and multicolored glazed tile.