A niche in the wall of a mosque which indicates the qibla (direction of the Kaaba in Mecca) and is usually covered by a wall hanging. Some of the earliest niches were constructed in Damascus and Mecca during the eight century CE, under the reign of the Umayyad caliph al-Walid I. From the Old South Arabian mhrb (palace) or the Ethiopian mekwrab (temple or sanctuary).
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An architectural or design element consisting of two scroll-shaped ornamental figures mounted on pillar capitals. The curving shape is believed…
A term referring to the shape of an apse, an architectural element that serves as a semi-circular end for a…
An architectural term, it refers to the assembly room or audience hall in a Hindu temple.
Shrine enclosing the inner sanctum or garbhagriha in the Dravida-style Hindu or Jain temples of South India; multi-shrine complexes may…
In architecture, a recess or space between two vertical supports that is set on a wall without doors or windows.
A layout in traditional Hindu temple architecture in which the central shrine is surrounded by four subsidiary shrines, each at…
Referring to the act of leisurely strolling as well as a garden or dwelling place in Pali and Sanskrit, vihara…
Shrine north of Kandahar in Afghanistan, dedicated to Shah Maqsud, a companion of Ali ibn Abi Talib — cousin of…