Sahn
Encyclopedia
Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture....
, is a courtyard
Courtyard
A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. These areas in inns and public buildings were often the primary meeting places for some purposes, leading to the other meanings of court....
. As per the traditional Islamic architectural
Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture....
style, almost every mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
has a sahn, which is surrounded by an arcade from all sides. In Persian architecture, the sahn usually contains a howz
Howz
In traditional Persian architecture, a howz is a centrally positioned symmetrical axis pool.If in a sahn of a mosque, it is used for performing ablutions. If in a traditional house or private courtyard, it is used for bathing, aesthetics or both....
, a symmetrical pool, where ablutions
Wudu
Wuḍhu is the Islamic procedure for washing parts of the body using water often in preparation for formal prayers...
are performed. Some also contain drinking fountains.
The use of the sahn is very old, ruins of houses in Ur
Ur
Ur was an important city-state in ancient Sumer located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate...
with sahns have been found. It is probably the unifying element in almost all buildings throughout the Arab world
Arab world
The Arab world refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the...
from Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
to Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
; used in urban, rural and Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
communities. Originally, it was used for residential buildings, mainly houses and palaces, as a private internal garden; later on it was used for every building.
House sahns are the most used and the most private. The design details may differ in urban, rural and Bedouin as well as from place to place but the basic functions remain the same. The sahn is used as a private garden for the family, a service yard during the day and in the summer it would be used as a family room. Usually the entrance of the house does not lead to the sahn directly, rather it would lead to the sahn through a broken or curved corridor called a majaz , this allowed the residents to open the main door and allow guests into the reception room, called the majlis without seeing the sahn.
In urban settings, the sahn is usually surrounded by a colonnade, and has a howz
Howz
In traditional Persian architecture, a howz is a centrally positioned symmetrical axis pool.If in a sahn of a mosque, it is used for performing ablutions. If in a traditional house or private courtyard, it is used for bathing, aesthetics or both....
, or pool of water, in the middle. The iwan
Iwan
An iwan is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. The formal gateway to the iwan is called pishtaq, a Persian term for a portal projecting from the facade of a building, usually decorated with calligraphy bands, glazed tilework, and...
, which is a family room with only three walls, usually overlooks the sahn, sometimes at two floors, as well as the stairwell. If the house has two floors, the upper floor may either have an additional colonnade or a row of mashrabiya
Mashrabiya
Mashrabiya or Shanasheel is the Arabic term given to a type of projecting oriel window enclosed with carved wood latticework located on the second storey of a building or higher, often lined with stained glass. The mashrabiy is an element of traditional Arabic architecture used since the middle...
, or lattice-work windows.
The idea of a private open space in the middle is mirrored even in the design of the cities: in addition to a central open area in the centre of city (used as a market), when designing neighbourhoods the plot of land dedicated would be built around the perimeter leaving the centre open, called the saha . The difference between this area and the concept of the agora
Agora
The Agora was an open "place of assembly" in ancient Greek city-states. Early in Greek history , free-born male land-owners who were citizens would gather in the Agora for military duty or to hear statements of the ruling king or council. Later, the Agora also served as a marketplace where...
and forum
Forum (Roman)
A forum was a public square in a Roman municipium, or any civitas, reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, along with the buildings used for shops and the stoas used for open stalls...
is that the latter is public for all to use while the former is private only for the neighbourhood residents, which usually consisted of members of the same tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
.
The use of sahn in Arabic architecture continued until the mid-twentieth century when modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
in architecture began to affect the design of both houses and public buildings, although a number of uses remained constant; specifically the mosque sahn.
Almost every mosque has a sahn, in which it is surrounded by an arcade from all sides. The use of the sahn in mosques has been exported to almost all Islamic countries. The howz in the sahn of the mosque was used for wudu
Wudu
Wuḍhu is the Islamic procedure for washing parts of the body using water often in preparation for formal prayers...
(ablution) until mosques started to have separate toilets and washrooms in the twentieth century. The sahn in the mosque is not a religious necessity, hence some mosques do not have a sahn.