page_title: Abbasid architecture
section_title: Historical background
hierarchical_section_title: Abbasid architecture / Historical background
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of the Abbasid Caliphate at its greatest extent, c. 850. (Partially based on Atlas of World History (2007) - Progress of Islam, map)
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: In 750 the Abbasids seized power from the Umayyad rulers of the Arab empire, who lost all their possessions apart from Spain. 
  The Abbasid caliphs based in what is now Iraq ruled over Iran, Mesopotamia, Arabia and the lands of the eastern and southern Mediterranean.
  The period between 750 and 900 has been described as the Islamic Golden Age.
  Where the Umayyads had typically reused pre-Islamic buildings in the cities they had conquered, by the Abbasid era many of these structures required replacement.  The spread of Muslim beliefs had also brought changes in needs. The Abbasids had to build masjid and palaces, as well as fortifications, houses, commercial buildings and even facilities for racing and polo matches.
  They upgraded the pilgrim road from Baghdad and Kufa to Mecca, levelled the surface and built walls and ditches in some areas, and built stations for the pilgrims with rooms and a mosque in which to pray.
  In 762 the caliph al-Mansur founded a new capital of Baghdad on the Tigris, which soon grew to one of the largest cities in the world. In 836 the caliph al-Mu'tasim transferred the capital to Samarra. The Abbasids began to lose control over the outlying parts of the empire, with local dynasties gaining effective independence in Khorasan (Samanids) in eastern Iran, Egypt (Tulunids) and Ifriqiya (Aghlabids). The caliph al-Mu'tamid, by now the effective ruler only of Iraq, moved his capital back to Baghdad in 889. In 945 the Buyids, followers of Shia Islam, became effective rulers as amirs, while the Abbasid caliphs retained their nominal title. With Caliph al-Nasir (1179-1225) the Abbasids once again gained control of Iraq, but the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258 brought the Abbasid caliphate to an end.
caption: Abbasid Caliphate at its greatest extent, around 850
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