Comparative Study Of Christian And Islamic Religious Architecture Of Middle Ages In The Context Of Iconology

Religious architectures compose the main chapter of architectural history. Inhuman civilization, sacred architecture acts not simply as functional construction. Inreality, it is the perceptible narrative of religious doctrine, the most profoundexpression of―Being" in sense of humanity. As the monument of both spiritual andmaterial achievement of human being, religious architecture should be interpretedwithin its historical context and at the background of man‘s persistent exploring of themeaning of―Being", rather than a chronological development oftechnology,structure or artistic style.Using Iconology as the methodology, based on three different civilizations inMedieval time, which are Western Catholic, Byzantine Orthodox and Islam, thisdissertation focuses on the study of Christian and Islamic architecture in acomparative way, in order to reveal that―Hellenistic-Hebrew" civilization is theircommon ideological originality, their cultural pseudomorphism phenomenon and itsconsequence of architecture conflation, and at the end to explore the ontologicalmeaning in religious architecture.Chapter one, focuses on the significance of religious architecture study, thevalidity of Iconology in architecture history research, the misnomers of former studyin Christian and Islamic architecture and both the necessity and categories ofcomparative study in this field.Chapter two, explores the development of Abrahamic monotheism at the end ofClassic World, and the fact that both Christianity and Islam are actually the result ofHellenistic-Hebrew civilization.Chapter three, deals with the influence that made by Christian theology uponSymbolic theory as Medieval art philosophy and the development of ChristianArchitecture in western Europe, the influence made upon the Gothic style by ChristianMysticism and Scholasticism.Chapter four, reveals Byzantine church which had been built with the legacy ofCaesaropapism, and its profound influence upon its periphery civilizations.Chapter five, studies the development of Mosque within the context of MedievalIslam, and the spectacular Islamic architectural languages: calligraphy, geometric pattern and arabesque; the originality of Muqarnas dome and its spiritual motivationofAtomic Occasionalism in Islam.Chapter six, deals with cultural pseudomorphism phenomenon caused by thecollision and coexistence between Christianity and Islam, with case studies in SpanishMudejar and Norman-Sicily architecture, and analyses the conflation within theconstruction of religious architecture.Chapter seven draws conclusion on the essence of ontological construction inreligious architecture, discusses the dilemma of freedom‘which is caused by variousmodern architecture theories, that confuses contemporary architects. And at the endproposes the ontological revival in architecture design.