Islamic and Moorish architecture
Design horseshoe arches, pointed, lobed, ogee, keel and Persian arches, an arcade like the Mezquita of Córdoba, an iwan with muqarnas, a minaret, a dome on a drum or a geometric screen with stars. Click blocks you have placed to keep track of where you are.
Pick an example as a starting point and adjust it afterwards.
Front view
Construction
Dark half = high side of a stair. An upside-down stair has an open square. Light area = bottom slab, light area with a stripe = top slab.
Build breakdown
Per layer, from bottom to top
| Layer | Part | Blocks | Stairs | Slabs |
|---|
Layer 1, row by row
The whole layer, from front to back. Start counts from the left side of the design.
| Row | Start | Pattern | Pieces |
|---|
Build tips
- First place the jambs or columns up to the springing line. Then build the arch from both sides at once towards the top; the top voussoir (keystone) goes in last.
- For ablaq pick two blocks with strong contrast, such as red sandstone and smooth sandstone, or bricks and quartz. Choose "Per part" in the block palette and give the voussoirs and the second colour their own block.
- You place upside-down stairs by clicking the top half of a block. Use them for the muqarnas and the corbels under balconies.
- Build a dome layer by layer from the bottom up. Use the construction drawing to see how wide every layer should be.
- A screen with holes looks great with fences, iron bars or glass panes in place of the blocks. In a cut-out screen you can fill the holes with glass.
- The railing of minaret balconies becomes iron bars in the schematic file.
3D and layer-by-layer build plan
To Minecraft
Download the design as a schematic file and paste it into your world with WorldEdit, or rebuild it with a hologram in Litematica.
Shopping list
Put the amounts of this design on your list. There you see everything together, converted to stacks and shulker boxes.
How it is calculated
History and fun facts
A building style from Spain to India
From the seventh century Islam spread from Arabia to North Africa, Spain, Persia and later India. Mosques, palaces, schools and tombs were built everywhere.
The builders took ideas from the Romans, Byzantines and Persians and made something of their own. In Spain and Morocco we speak of Moorish architecture. In Persia, Egypt and India the style got its own look again.
Arches in every shape
The horseshoe arch continues below its centre point, so the opening is narrower at the bottom than higher up. In Córdoba you see it with red and white arch stones in turn, a pattern called ablaq.
Other shapes are the pointed arch, the lobed arch with half circles, the ogee arch with an S shaped top, the keel arch from Fatimid Cairo and the Persian four centred arch. Often a rectangular frame surrounds the arch: the alfiz.
Minarets and domes
From the minaret the muezzin called people to prayer. In Morocco and Spain minarets are square, like the Koutoubia and the Giralda. In Cairo they are octagonal and stepped. The Ottomans built slim round pencil minarets.
Domes often stand on a round drum with windows. In Persia and Central Asia they became pointed or melon shaped with ribs. In India the onion dome became famous, as on the Taj Mahal.
Muqarnas, iwan and star patterns
Muqarnas are small stepped niches that hang like honeycombs under a vault or dome. They make the change from a straight wall to a round shape.
An iwan is a tall arched niche that is open on one side. In Persian mosques each courtyard has such a gateway, often with a tall rectangular frame: the pishtaq.
In mosques you usually see no images of people or animals. That is why builders used geometric patterns with stars of 6, 8, 12 or 16 points. Wooden screens with these patterns are called mashrabiya, stone screens are called jali.
Where can you still see it?
In Spain you find the Mezquita of Córdoba, the Alhambra in Granada, the Aljafería in Zaragoza and the Giralda in Seville. In Morocco there are the Koutoubia in Marrakesh and the Bab Mansour gate in Meknes.
Other examples are the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the Shah Mosque in Isfahan, the Gur-e Amir in Samarkand, the Mamluk mosques of Cairo, the Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan and the Taj Mahal in India.
Did you know?
- Building of the Mezquita of Córdoba began in 785. It has been a cathedral since 1236.
- The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem was completed around 691 and is one of the oldest Islamic buildings still standing.
- The Taj Mahal was built between about 1632 and 1653 as a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal.
- The Giralda in Seville was first a minaret and is now the bell tower of the cathedral.
- The Court of the Lions in the Alhambra is named after its fountain with twelve stone lions.
- Timur is buried in the Gur-e Amir in Samarkand.
About this tool
With this tool you design Islamic and Moorish architecture for Minecraft. You choose what to build: a single arch in a wall, an arcade on columns, an iwan, a minaret, a dome on a drum or a geometric screen. There are examples of the Mezquita of Córdoba, the Alhambra, Bab Mansour, the Shah Mosque, the Giralda, the Koutoubia, the Dome of the Rock, the Taj Mahal and more.
For arches you choose from seven shapes: round arch, horseshoe arch, pointed horseshoe arch, lobed arch, ogee arch, keel arch and Persian four centred arch. You set the width, height and thickness of the arch stones, and add an alfiz, two coloured ablaq, muqarnas and a crown of stepped merlons.
For a minaret you choose a round, square or octagonal shaft, the number of sections, balconies and a top such as a cone, onion dome or lantern. For a dome you choose a half sphere, pointed dome, onion dome, melon dome, ribbed dome or cone roof. You make the screen with stars of 6 to 16 points, as a lattice or cut out.
The front view, the construction drawing and the layer plan show exactly how to build up the arch or dome. The 3D preview, the block palette and the materials counter help you further. Download the design as a .schem file for WorldEdit or Litematica.
Useful for a desert town, a palace or a Minecraft mosque. Also see the Arabic buildings and the arch planner.
Frequently asked questions
How do I build a horseshoe arch in Minecraft?
Choose a single arch in a wall and Horseshoe arch. With the setting for how far it continues below the centre you choose how far the arch curves inward: one third of the radius is the Córdoba size. Build the piers up to the springing line and then the arch from both sides to the top.
How do I get red and white arches like in Córdoba?
Set Ablaq to alternating arch stones. In the block palette choose Per part and give the second colour its own block. Red sandstone with smooth sandstone, or bricks with quartz, gives strong contrast.
How do I build a dome in Minecraft?
Build the drum first, then the dome layer by layer from bottom to top. The construction drawing shows how wide each layer must be. An onion dome first gets wider and then narrower again.
What are muqarnas and how do I make them?
Muqarnas are stepped niches under a vault. In Minecraft you make them with upside down stairs. You place those by clicking the top half of a block. Choose the number of layers in the tool.
Which blocks suit a geometric screen?
For a lattice, fences, iron bars or glass panes work well. For a cut out screen you can fill the holes with glass.
Does this work in Bedrock?
You can follow the layer plan in any version. The .schem file is for Java Edition with WorldEdit or Litematica.