page_title: Abbasid architecture
section_title: Other buildings
hierarchical_section_title: Abbasid architecture / Characteristics / Other buildings
caption_attribution_description: Español: Berlín, Museo de arte islámico, revestimiento de estuco de una casa de Samarra, s. IX.
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: Houses were often built in blocks.
  Most houses seem to have been two story.
  The lower level was often sunken into the ground for coolness, and had vaulted ceilings.  
  The upper level had a timber ceiling and a flat terraced roof that provided living space in summer nights.  
  Houses were built around courtyards, and had featureless exteriors, although they were often elaborately decorated inside.
  There are no traces of windcatchers, which later became common Islamic architectural features.
  Most of the houses had latrines and facilities for cold-water bathing.
  The Abbasids also undertook public works that included construction of canals in Samarra and of cisterns in Tunisia and Palestine.
  The Nilometer at Fustat, near modern Cairo, built in 861, has elaborate and ornate stonework and discharging arches.
caption: Decorative stucco panel from Abbasid Samarra, in Style C, or the "bevelled style", 9th century
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