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The Architectural Grid of Ibrahim Han Mosque in Réthymnon, Crete

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Abstract

The Ibrahim Han Mosque, dating from the very early years of Ottoman Crete in the mid-seventeenth century, is presented as a case study for detecting the historical ell values used in the island. The use of architectural grid and the employment of the 721 mm value of the Ottoman ell is attested, along with simple methods for achieving proportions and organizing the building layout. Using a methodology that approaches the local architecture of the island through metrology, the research sheds light to the involvement of Ottoman imperial architects, whose designs were executed within the architectural tradition of Crete.

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Notes

  1. I have attached subscript values throughout the text and the drawings, for easy identification of the different historical length unit values. For example, 5΄΄348 means five inches of the 348 mm (Venetian) foot, 36΄΄734 should be read as thirty-six parmaks of the 734 mm Ottoman ell (one and a half ell).

  2. I would to thank Mr. Kostas Giapitsoglou for allowing me to survey the building. Ibrahim Han Mosque is discussed in Steriotou 1992, vol. I, 272–377 and much more thoroughly in Giapitsoglu and Kugleri 2009. For a comprehensive bibliography on the monument see the database Digital Crete—Mediterranean Cultural Itineraries (http://digitalcrete.ims.forth.gr accessed July 2017).

  3. Unlike the case of round arches, where pendentives are geometrically part of a sphere, pendentives defined by acute arches form a geometrically indeterminate surface.

  4. There are visible traces of the original minaret under the demolished porch (Fig. 3c).

  5. This means that technically the dome rests on a very short tympanum, something which is actually observable only through detailed survey.

  6. The niche's clear width is 1,163 mm =  ~ 38΄΄734 and 1,645 mm =  ~ 52΄΄734 including the two 7΄΄734 jambs, the apex of the niche from the sill is 102΄΄734, the overall height of the decorative frame is 4,555 mm =  ~ 6΄734 etc.

  7. For a comparison see Barmore (1985), Fig. 1. The error could have been caused by a miscalculated geographical longitude of Réthymnon. The longitude of a place was always harder to calculate than its latitude, hence a wrong input in the mathematical formula would produce wrong results (see Barmore 1985, 82–83 on geographic location).

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  1. National Technical University of Athens: Ethniko Metsobio Polytechneio, Athens, Greece

    Antonis Katsarakis

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Katsarakis, A. The Architectural Grid of Ibrahim Han Mosque in Réthymnon, Crete. Nexus Netw J 24, 203–216 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-021-00584-7

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