Turkish (Geometrical) Delight

Wendy and I are in Turkey for two weeks (our second visit). Those readers familiar with the Ball of Whacks know my fondness for geometrical art. Turkey, with its strong Islamic tradition, provides its visitors with many opportunities to take delight in patterns.

Below is part of a panel made from mother of pearl inlay at Topkapi Palace (Istanbul). Note the interplay of octagons and pentagons. Exquisite!

Shown below is part of a wood screen at the Rustempasa mosque (Istanbul). This one has an interplay of hexagons and quadralaterals.

Comments

[Saurabh Garg]

Hi Roger,

Next time you are in India, try and visit Taj Mahal. Apart from being one of the seven wonders, its walls and architecture has awesome mathematical, geometrical designs. I am sure you would love em.

Regards,
SG

[Roger von Oech]

Saurabh: You are correct about the Taj Mahal. I visited it in 2004 and saw (and photographed) some of my favorite geometrical patterns.

[Paul C]

Interesting posts about geometric delights in architecture.

The Royal Ontario Museum's Crystal transformation by Daniel Libeskind is quite a wonder and got the city of Toronto started.

Just bookmarked your site and perused some of your great articles. I also referred to your site in one of my recent posts.

[Randy Bosch]

Hope you make it to Haiga Sophia and observe not only the favorite polyhedrons in its design, but also the unusual asymmetry inside!

[Roger von Oech]

Randy: We did make it to Hagia Sophia. Quite an inspiration.