The Developmental Stages of the Inner Courtyard of the Mosque: an Analytical Study of (Kairouan Mosque and Mosque of Sultan Hassan Shrine)

Abstract

The study addressed the stages of using the mosque’s inner courtyard throughout history, and its developments during the Islamic state. The researcher used engineering ratios and applied them to the inner courtyard of the selected models. The study found a variety of results about the inner courtyard of the mosques, which were the privacy of the courtyard and its importance to the mosque. The courtyard was a major part of the mosque for all ages, regardless of its shape and structure. It evolved and increased with aesthetic elements, which make the inner courtyard of the mosque multi-function during the Islamic times, and that explained the functional and aesthetic dimension of the courtyard in Islamic architecture. Engineering plays a major role in the layout of the mosques' yards in terms of the engineering ratios of the courtyard and its surrounding architectural blocks.