page_title: Abbasid architecture
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Abbasid architecture / Origins
caption_attribution_description: The city of Baghdad between 150 and 300 AH(767 and 912 AD)
context_page_description: Abbasid architecture developed in the Abbasid Caliphate between 750 and 945, primarily in its heartland of Mesopotamia.
  The Abbasids evolved distinctive styles of their own, particularly in decoration of their buildings.
  While the Abbasids lost control of large parts of their empire after 870, their architecture continued to be copied by successor states in Iran, Egypt and North Africa.
context_section_description: Early Abbasid architecture was very similar to the architecture of the Sassanid Empire, as exemplified by the Palace of Ukhaidhir.
  It used the same techniques, the same materials of mud brick, baked brick and rough stone blocks set in mortar, and followed Sassanian designs.
  Stone is rare in the central and southern alluvial plains that formed the heartland of Abbasid territory, so many of the buildings were of mud-brick, faced with plaster and frequently  repaired or rebuilt. Sometimes fired brick was used.
  When the caliph al-Mansur built the round city of Baghdad, called Madinat al-Salam, which contained the caliphal palace, mosque and administrative buildings, he may have been following earlier traditions such as the round city of Gur built by Ardashir I (r. 224-241) at Firuzabad.
  With the conquest of Central Asia, the influence of Soghdian architecture increased. 
  In Samarra the stucco and wall paintings are similar to that of the palaces of Panjakent in what is now Tajikistan.
  Later, in the 12th and 13th centuries, architecture in the lands ruled by the Abbasids became dominated by Seljuk architecture.
caption: The city of Baghdad between 767 and 912 AD, growing out from the Round city of Baghdad built by the caliph al-Mansur. The original round city was built after the plan of circular Sasanian cities, such as Gor.
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