Seljuk architecture

The Seljuks are a Turkic dynasty from Central Asia. In the 11th century they conquer Iran, and in 1050 Alp Arslan makes Isfahan his capital. An empire grows from Central Asia to Mesopotamia.

Iran is short of timber. The answer is fired brick – and the Seljuks make it an art. Bricks are set on edge, at an angle, in zigzag. A whole façade can become a pattern without a single painted surface.

In the Friday Mosque of Isfahan something decisive happens. In 1086 the vizier Nizam al-Mulk builds a dome south of the courtyard; two years later a dome rises to the north. In the early 12th century the courtyard gets four great iwans – vaulted openings facing the centre. The four-iwan plan is born. It will shape mosques in Iran for hundreds of years.

Death gets its monuments too. Tomb towers rise over the plain, octagonal or round, with pointed roofs. In Merv the mausoleum of Sultan Sanjar is built around 1152. Along the trade routes stand caravanserais, a day's journey apart. And in Nakhchivan, under the Eldiguzids – a dynasty rising within the Seljuk realm – Ajami Nakhchivani signs the tomb tower of Momine Khatun in 1186, ten sides of brick with turquoise tile.

Then the style moves west. In Anatolia, with Konya as its capital, the Seljuks of Rum build in dressed stone instead of brick. The portals swell ever larger – at Divriği, in 1228–1229, the stone almost seems alive. And on the road to Aksaray stands Sultan Han of 1229, one of the largest caravanserais anywhere.

The Mongols bring the end. After the Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243 Seljuk power is broken. But the forms live on.

Persian architecture. The Seljuks build in Iran and take the iwan from there. The difference is in the surface: the Seljuks pattern with brick, later Persian mosques dress everything in blue tile.

Moorish architecture. Both have stalactite vaults, but Moorish has horseshoe arches and stucco, and stands in Spain and North Africa.