Surveying the Religious and Doctrinal Concepts of Ornaments attached to Iranian Mosques

Mosques are the most important places of the manifestation of spiritual concepts. These concepts are shown in different ways in mosques, one of them is decoration of mosques. Decorating mosques is important in terms of aesthetics. In fact, the beauty of the mosque is a truth held before the eyes of the human being stimulating his aesthetic taste and feeling, so that he can watch the beauties of Lord of Creation. Also, mosques are reminder of profound concepts spiritually, that people be observer to many of the principles of Islam via objective and subjective. The Muslim artist tries to demonstrate it in the best possible way in which the viewer does not lose sight of Lord, rather, reminds him of His power. This research aims to present a conceptual analysis of the decorations in mosques and examine their visual meanings and spirituality. Its analysis method is descriptive–analytical. Most of the mosque decorations named in this research including mirror-work, cornice, framework, fretwork, arabesque, and etc. have spiritual wisdom expressing and incarnating the secrets of beauty of creation. These decorations are described and analyzed separately and results shows that that most of them refer to Quran verses directly or indirectly. Finally, the manifestation of God is seen in all.

"Religious", "Doctrinal Concepts", "Ornaments", "Mosque decorations", "Iranian Mosques"