Glossary · M
Muqarnas
Also called stalactite vault, honeycomb vault, mocárabe
Vaulting or corbelling made of tiers of small niche-like cells, each tier projecting over the one below; used in squinches, domes, portals and cornices.
See also: Squinch
Rules that use the word
Muqarnas: a vault of small niches. Fill a half-dome, squinch or cornice with tiers of small concave cells, each tier corbelled forward from the one below and each cell set over the junction of two cells beneath.
Muqarnas are designed in plan. Draw the muqarnas as its plan (the projection of every tier on the floor) and build it up from the plan tier by tier with a fixed height to each tier.
Where it appears in the book
In the chapters Domes, The Islamic World.
A feature of Moorish (Western Islamic), Persian Islamic (Seljuk, Timurid and Safavid) architecture.
Nearby in the glossary
Moulding · Mount · Mount Meru · Mullion · Mutule · Naga balustrade · Naos · Narthex