Government | Sunday 3 April, 2016 4:13 am |

The inside portion of the newly constructed Haram building that overlooks mataf (circumambulation area around the Holy Kaba) has been decorated with Islamic floral designs.

The prayer areas inside the Grand Mosque are also adorned by various engineering and geometrical designs adding beauty to the place’s spiritual environment.

“We have selected these special designs for the Grand Mosque as they are part of the Islamic heritage,” an informed source at the Haram Mosque told Makkah Arabic daily.

He said the new designs are made of best quality marbles brought specifically for the Grand Mosque. He described Islamic floral as the best form of architectural design.

“These decoration works are done by a team of experts recruited from different parts of the world,” said the source who requested anonymity. “This work has been done carefully to avoid any influence of un-Islamic faith and designs,” he said.

The Islamic floral designs are used for the external decoration, he said, adding that it is prepared on the basis of the designs of various types of leaves and flowers.

“A single floral design will have intertwined elements of various leaves, which are then repeated in an organized and harmonious manner,” he explained.

Floral designs look beyond nature as they are securitized through geometric decoration where the principle of abstraction prevails, the official said.

“These designs are widely used to decorate mosques, tombs, walls and other treasured materials made of copper, ceramic and glass,” he added. It is also used to decorate book pages and bindings.

He said the interior walls of the new Haram building is ornamented by geometric decoration with marvelous designs, which is based on the use of geometric lines.

It’s formulated in marvelous art forms with different polygons, star shapes and overlapping circles.