Symbolic Meaning of Colors in Traditional Mosques

Mosques are considered as one of the essential buildings in the Islamic architecture. They indicate the significance and value of Islamic architecture. In addition, mosques are not only the places for praying, but also they play the fundamental role in replying human’s social, political, economical and even mental needs. This means that, the relation between human and mosques can represent the dignity and magnitude of these Islamic center communities. Therefore, the spiritual concepts and divine meanings of this building should convey to human. One way to display these concepts is to use color in symbolic ways which can be as a tool to communication between human and mosques. This thesis focuses on to find the symbolic meanings of color in traditional mosques, by limiting the study to Safavid and Ottoman periods as well as Central Asian mosques. Furthermore, this study is aimed to investigate the similarities and differences between the symbolic meanings of color in the traditional mosques during these three periods. The type of research which is used in this study in order to obtain this aim is documentary research and based on this type of study, it applies particular samples which are more impressive and has more debates in terms of colors. Besides, the method for collective data and analysis is content analysis method. The achieved qualitative data from literature is investigated symbolic meanings of color in recorded periods. Keywords: Color, Traditional mosque, Symbolic meaning, Safavid mosques, Ottoman mosques, Central Asian mosque