Palatial Architecture

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In Byzantium

Palatial architecture is a vast field in Islamic architecture yet we tend to be less familiar with this field than that of Islamic religious architecture, a phenomenon that can be explained in large part by the limited number of remaining sites. Viewed from a certain angle, we can distinguish three major types of construction corresponding to different periods and architectural formulae: the Umayyad palaces, the Abbasid palaces and lastly such edifices as The Alhambra in Granada or the Topkapi palace in Istanbul.

These three forms belong to the same intellectual conception of architectural space as the framework for valorising princely power. On the other hand, their architectural formulae and the typology of the edifices vary.

The architectural types that were widely adopted throughout the Islamic world developed under the dynasties of the Umayyads in Syria and the Abbasids in Iraq during the 8th and 9th centuries.

Islamic palatial architecture naturally flourished from the outset of an established, centralised power base as that which developed in Umayyad Syria, Jordan and Palestine. Princely dwellings presented characteristics inherited in part from the architecture of late antiquity. This was incarnated in the ancient buildings that we tend to group together in the appellation, “Castles of the Desert”[1]. These square structures, built outside of the urban areas recall the principle of rustic villas (villa rustica) of late antiquity. The presence of a compound—an enclosed space cut off from the rest of the world evoking a sort of “garden of Eden”—became one of the primary features of palaces in Islamic lands. A single entrance gave access to a central courtyard with the other rooms built around it, often on two levels. Sometimes these would be true complexes[2], complete with mosque, baths and cisterns, all within the same surrounding walls. The rich décor was particularly lavish and again took up, among other influences, the techniques inherited from the Mediterranean world of antiquity, such as mosaics. They give us an idea of the luxury that characterised the life of the court. All that is left of urban Umayyad palaces are the written descriptions[3] as no vestiges remain. Government houses, constructed in Kufa (Iraq) in 638 and in Marwin in 747, both presented a square floor plan with a large courtyard framed by the iwân, on three sides in Kufa (a tripartite room and a hall with a cupola taking up the fourth side) and on four sides in Marwin, the iwân and the hall under the cupola being the elements inherited from Sassanid architecture.

The beginnings of the Abbasid epoch showed great consistency with the epoch that preceded it[4]. It was the new capital, Samarra, founded in the ninth century that became the site of the elaboration of a new type of building. Gigantic palaces were built, like that of the Jawsaq al-Khaqani (836, the Caliphate of al-Mu’tasim) and the Balkuwara (849-859, the Caliphate of al-Muttawakil), both true city-palaces. Inside their massive surrounding walls one would find a system of terraces with large gardens—an essential component of palaces in the Islamic world—as well as two very distinct units, one private and the other public. Successive terraces led progressively, along an axial layout, to the key areas of the palace such as the reception halls. The principle, largely adopted here of courtyards with four iwâns are the stamp of Sassanid heritage.

The typology of these palaces in the early centuries of Islam greatly spread to other Islamic lands all the way to their most Eastern reaches[5]. The same holds true for the symbolic conception of the palace which was intended as a closed world containing public areas devoted to the exercise of power and private areas, reserved for the princes. The notion of a voyage contained within the layout of these areas, which took its cue from the idea of the path of initiation, impregnated for many centuries Islamic palatial architecture, even up to fairly recent constructions.

Madinat al-Zahra, the city built over a period of more than forty years (936-976) for the Umayyad sovereigns of al-Andalus, is ripe with influences of Samarran palatial architecture. We observe the same attention to the topography of the site, the same gradation of the public areas towards the Alcazar reserved for the caliph and the principle of the courtyard (patio) framed with rooms and an equally large area dedicated to the gardens. This penchant for gardens in the architecture of al-Andalus survived through many epochs. The Nasrid palace of The Alhambra in Granada, built in the fourteenth century, gives much emphasis to such delightful areas, some of which are literally integrated into the architecture (the Court of the Lions) while others are arranged over independent terraces. In the Iranian world, which we will not be treating here, gardens were also of utmost importance. They symbolised, as in the Islamic world in general, an image of Paradise in which water played a major role.

Our discussion of The Alhambra brings us to a third type of palace but which reveals a different conception of the general plan. In the interior of the great outer walls, distinct units are connected by courtyards and gardens without the axial organisation that defined the palatial structures we have seen up to here.

The Ottoman palace of Topkapi in Istanbul is a famous example. The primary and unique residence of the Ottoman sovereigns from the fifteenth to nineteenth century, it is situated in the hills overlooking the city. A surrounding wall frames the entire complex, giving access to three main courtyards, each one accessible by a succession of doors. There are kiosks, pavilions, buildings for the functional operations of the palace (kitchens, stables, libraries…), an edifice reserved for political use (the tower of justice, the throne room), and the living areas, among which the famous harem, covering some 700.000 m2. The lengthy time period during which it continued to function and the concomitant architectural additions explain the absence of an overall organisational pattern. All the same, we still observe the gradation of the public areas towards the private quarters. The Topkapi buildings constructed from the 18th to the 19th century, while architecturally derived from Ottoman tradition, have the strong imprint of Western models. The European contribution had the same impact in the modern era on other regions in the Islamic world (Dar Hasan Pacha, Algeria, late-seventeenth century).

This rather hasty overview of palatial architecture in the Islamic world would not be complete without evoking the architecture of tents, inherited from a nomadic way of life, inherited from the populations of pre-Islamic Arabia and of Central Asia, which were able to evolve thanks the Mongols who added a great deal to their evolution. Such cloth constructions flourished particularly in the Iranian, Indian and Ottoman worlds[6]. Miniatures offer us a striking image of what these canvas palaces must have looked like. They were often set up in the palace gardens, providing special attraction for official visits and for private entertainments. These light structures, which, understandably, were rarely preserved, were also used in a military context as encampments for troops on campaigns.

J.-M. S.

In Islam

Palatial architecture is a vast field in Islamic architecture yet we tend to be less familiar with this field than that of Islamic religious architecture, a phenomenon that can be explained in large part by the limited number of remaining sites. Viewed from a certain angle, we can distinguish three major types of construction corresponding to different periods and architectural formulae: the Umayyad palaces, the Abbasid palaces and lastly such edifices as The Alhambra in Granada or the Topkapi palace in Istanbul.

These three forms belong to the same intellectual conception of architectural space as the framework for valorising princely power. On the other hand, their architectural formulae and the typology of the edifices vary.

The architectural types that were widely adopted throughout the Islamic world developed under the dynasties of the Umayyads in Syria and the Abbasids in Iraq during the 8th and 9th centuries.

Islamic palatial architecture naturally flourished from the outset of an established, centralised power base as that which developed in Umayyad Syria, Jordan and Palestine. Princely dwellings presented characteristics inherited in part from the architecture of late antiquity. This was incarnated in the ancient buildings that we tend to group together in the appellation, “Castles of the Desert”. These square structures, built outside of the urban areas recall the principle of rustic villas (villa rustica) of late antiquity. The presence of a compound—an enclosed space cut off from the rest of the world evoking a sort of “garden of Eden”—became one of the primary features of palaces in Islamic lands. A single entrance gave access to a central courtyard with the other rooms built around it, often on two levels. Sometimes these would be true complexes, complete with mosque, baths and cisterns, all within the same surrounding walls. The rich décor was particularly lavish and again took up, among other influences, the techniques inherited from the Mediterranean world of antiquity, such as mosaics. They give us an idea of the luxury that characterised the life of the court. All that is left of urban Umayyad palaces are the written descriptions as no vestiges remain. Government houses, constructed in Kufa (Iraq) in 638 and in Marwin in 747, both presented a square floor plan with a large courtyard framed by the iwân, on three sides in Kufa (a tripartite room and a hall with a cupola taking up the fourth side) and on four sides in Marwin, the iwân and the hall under the cupola being the elements inherited from Sassanid architecture. 

The beginnings of the Abbasid epoch showed great consistency with the epoch that preceded it. It was the new capital, Samarra, founded in the 9th century that became the site of the elaboration of a new type of building. Gigantic palaces were built, like that of the Jawsaq al-Khaqani (836, the Caliphate of al-Mu’tasim) and the Balkuwara (849-859, the Caliphate of al-Muttawakil), both true city-palaces. Inside their massive surrounding walls one would find a system of terraces with large gardens—an essential component of palaces in the Islamic world—as well as two very distinct units, one private and the other public. Successive terraces led progressively, along an axial layout, to the key areas of the palace such as the reception halls. The principle, largely adopted here of courtyards with four iwâns are the stamp of Sassanid heritage.

The typology of these palaces in the early centuries of Islam greatly spread to other Islamic lands all the way to their most Eastern reaches. The same holds true for the symbolic conception of the palace which was intended as a closed world containing public areas devoted to the exercise of power and private areas, reserved for the princes. The notion of a voyage contained within the layout of these areas, which took its cue from the idea of the path of initiation, impregnated for many centuries Islamic palatial architecture, even up to fairly recent constructions.

Madinat al-Zahra, the city built over a period of more than forty years (936-976) for the Umayyad sovereigns of al-Andalus, is ripe with influences of Samarran palatial architecture. We observe the same attention to the topography of the site, the same gradation of the public areas towards the Alcazar reserved for the caliph and the principle of the courtyard (patio) framed with rooms and an equally large area dedicated to the gardens. This penchant for gardens in the architecture of al-Andalus survived through many epochs. The Nasrid palace of The Alhambra in Granada, built in the 14th century, gives much emphasis to such delightful areas, some of which are literally integrated into the architecture (the Court of the Lions) while others are arranged over independent terraces. In the Iranian world, which we will not be treating here, gardens were also of utmost importance. They symbolised, as in the Islamic world in general, an image of Paradise in which water played a major role.

Our discussion of The Alhambra brings us to a third type of palace but which reveals a different conception of the general plan. In the interior of the great outer walls, distinct units are connected by courtyards and gardens without the axial organisation that defined the palatial structures we have seen up to here.

The Ottoman palace of Topkapi in Istanbul is a famous example. The primary and unique residence of the Ottoman sovereigns from the 15th to 19th century, it is situated in the hills overlooking the city. A surrounding wall frames the entire complex, giving access to three main courtyards, each one accessible by a succession of doors. There are kiosks, pavilions, buildings for the functional operations of the palace (kitchens, stables, libraries…), an edifice reserved for political use (the tower of justice, the throne room), and the living areas, among which the famous harem, covering some 700.000 m2. The lengthy time period during which it continued to function and the concomitant architectural additions explain the absence of an overall organisational pattern. All the same, we still observe the gradation of the public areas towards the private quarters. The Topkapi buildings constructed from the 18th to the 19th century, while architecturally derived from Ottoman tradition, have the strong imprint of Western models. The European contribution had the same impact in the modern era on other regions in the Islamic world (Dar Hasan Pacha, Algeria, late-17th century).

This rather hasty overview of palatial architecture in the Islamic world would not be complete without evoking the architecture of tents, inherited from a nomadic way of life, inherited from the populations of pre-Islamic Arabia and of Central Asia, which were able to evolve thanks the Mongols who added a great deal to their evolution. Such cloth constructions flourished particularly in the Iranian, Indian and Ottoman worlds. Miniatures offer us a striking image of what these canvas palaces must have looked like. They were often set up in the palace gardens, providing special attraction for official visits and for private entertainments. These light structures, which, understandably, were rarely preserved, were also used in a military context as encampments for troops on campaigns.

C.S

In Western Europe

The ancient model

The word "palace" comes from the name of one of Rome's seven hills, the Mons Palatinum, site of the emperors' residences from the 1st century onwards. In Late Antiquity sumptuous palaces were built in the places the emperors had chosen as their summer retreats: in the' late 3rd century, for example, Diocletian built an imposing ensemble at Spalato (now Split, in Croatia), in his native region: fortified buildings reflecting the regular, rectangular layout of army camps, with two main thoroughfares, a cardo and a decumanus. The northern section comprised barracks, storage buildings and quarters for the personnel, while to the south were Diocletian's residence, a temple and the mausoleum in which the emperor would lie for eternity. These areas were linked by porticoes. Near the residential section were the thermal baths, with their reception rooms and private apartments. This ensemble was only used by Diocletian after his abdication and was never a seat of power as such, even if its imposing ramparts gave it a defensive character that presaged the castles of medieval times.       

In general the imperial residences of Late Antiquity also included administrative quarters and spaces intended for the representation of power. The remains of the imperial palace in Trier, for example, comprise a large audience chamber and a basilica dating from the early 4th century. The Great Palace of Constantinople is the most accomplished of these combined residential, administrative, awe-inspiring complexes. The homes of the aristocracy had the same monumental character, with reception facilities that included large triclinia (dining rooms) with apses.

After the fall of the Roman Empire in the West in 476, the rulers of the new kingdoms drew on this ancient heritage. In Ravenna in the late 5th century the Ostrogoth king Theodoric built a large palace church – today's Sant'Apollinare Nuovo – as luxurious as anything antiquity had to offer. Unfortunately the palace itself has not survived. The other palaces of the Early Middle Ages, however, while taking their inspiration from antiquity, did not as a rule achieve the same level of luxury: the 6th-century chronicler Gregory of Tours mentions wooden porticoes painted in bright colours around the courtyards of Merovingian palaces. There were large rooms for assemblies of the aristocracy and of bishops, and chapels. No examples are still in existence, but it is known that there were several such palaces in what is now the Paris region – in Soissons, Choisy and Compiègne, for example – and that some were linked to an abbey. At this time the king and his entourage moved from one place to another, hunting or responding to political events, so the palaces had to be able to receive roving officials of all levels, even if the facilities they offered were fairly rudimentary.

With the rise of the Carolingian administration after 751 palaces became more complex. The best-known example is the one in Aachen, which Charlemagne began in 790, working from the ancient model. In the centre was a residential section linked by porticoes to the reception area, the aula or audience chamber – of the same type as in the Roman basilica in Trier – and the palatine chapel, whose structure reflected that of Carolingian society as a whole: the emperor sat in state in a rostrum, looking down on the faithful beneath the gaze of the Christ in the cupola, whose vicar – or earthly representative – he was. By contrast little is known of the houses of the aristocracy, which are no more than mentioned in the chronicles. At Germigny-des-Prés, near Orléans, one of the advisers of the emperor Theodulf built a palace whose oratory has survived.

Castles, fortifications and seats of power

Late in the Carolingian era, when imperial authority had crumbled, castles became the new seats of power of the feudal world. At once residences and military establishments, castles symbolised power. They began as wooden, then stone stockades built on artificial mounds of earth, with a quadrangular keep or donjon housing several levels separated by wooden floors: the main reception room, the living quarters and the chapel. The ground floor, windowless and often vaulted, was used for storage, while access to the floor above was by a staircase or wooden ladder. The top floor was used for defence. The different levels were linked by stairs, often set into the walls from the 11th century onwards, and later replaced by spiral staircases. The keep was surrounded by an external wall whose defensive functions came to loom larger and larger. A courtyard or "outer bailey" was home to the economic life of the castle and sometimes included accommodation for the lord. In the 12th century new military features made their appearance: drawbridges, hoardings, projecting corner turrets, and arrow slits.

By the 13th century these castles were showing all sorts of variations. The fortresses designed for the French king Philippe Auguste by his military engineers were basically components of a line of defence: the Louvre was built as a crucial element in the protection of the west side of Paris, but after considerable modification became a favourite residence for Charles V. In the 12th century Vincennes, to the east of the city, was a hunting lodge rebuilt by Philippe Auguste and Louis IX; the keep, one of the biggest in history, and the military components were the work of Philip VI of Valois around 1337. The kings were frequently in residence there, although the La Cité palace was still the official seat of power. Home to the institutions of government during Late Antiquity, it remained an urban palace, retaining during these feudal times – and despite its fortifications – a specifically royal character. Like the palaces of old it was divided up into sections: one for the display of power and a steadily encroaching administration – Parliament, a judicial offshoot of the court founded by Louis IX (St Louis), was based there; a second section for the sovereign's personal residence; and a third for the palatine chapel, rebuilt by Louis IX and surviving today as the Sainte Chapelle. When the popes moved to Avignon in the 14th century a fortified palace with the same tripartite organisation was built there: the apostolic and institutional offices, which occupied a large part of the premises; the pope's private apartments; and a chapel. There were also residences combining a complex mix of functions: Frederick II's Castel del Monte in Apulia, dating from the third quarter of the 13th century, may have been used for astronomical observations and also for the hunt, the emperor's passion.

The quest for comfort in the Late Middle Ages

The Late Middle Ages were marked by innovations in aristocratic dwellings as their owners sought to combine comfort and symbolism. The military aspect continued to be emphasised, as it constituted a sign of nobility, but the residential function, signalled by a proliferation of the ornamental, took precedence. The castles portrayed in the Duke of Berry's Book of Hours seem taken straight out of fairy tales – indeed one of them, at Lusignan, is traditionally the home of the fairy Melusine. These castles herald the châteaux of the French Renaissance.   

The most pronounced changes, however, came in the field of patrician urban living. In Italy the palazzo, built around courtyards, took up an area surrounded by several streets. Its windows were large, to let in light, and its interior points to a quest for comfort. In 14th-century France the hôtel (townhouse) became the model for the urban palace: Charles V, for example, often lived at the Hôtel Saint Pol, close to the Bastille and since demolished. The residence, comprising different properties bought by the king and linked by a system of galleries, had no regular structure, but had been sumptuously redecorated. Its famous gardens and menagerie gave it a rural feel conducive to relaxation. Other Paris townhouses were built by members of the royal family, among them Jean de Berry'shôtelhôtel-building by the aristocracy, prelates and the very rich bourgeoisie. The Hôtel des Abbés de Cluny in Paris, now the National Museum of the Middle Ages, set the seal on this style: the U-shaped main building is set between a courtyard and a garden and is walled off from the surrounding streets. Inside, galleries link the different sections horizontally, while staircase turrets highlight the vertical aspect. Two grand chambers, the abbot's chamber and the chapel signalled the traditional organisational divisions: representation, residence and devotion. There are a kitchen and comfort features that make the building quite comparable to the palace in Bourges built for Jacques Coeur, steward of the royal household under Charles VII, around 1443–50. The plan, with the hôtel between courtyard and garden, heralds the design of the private Paris townhouses from the 16th to the 18th century. Hôtel de Nesle, the Hôtel de Bourbon and the Hôtel de Clisson, whose entrance was incorporated into the later Hôtel de Soubise and still stands today. It would seem that at the time the term referred to princely residences and the people to be found there, without having any specific architectural meaning. In 1436, after the reign of Charles VI and the end of English domination, there came a fresh flurry of

Th. S.