GEOMETRIC PROPORTIONS IN ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE: CASE OF THE SIDI EL BENA MOSQUE IN TLEMCEN

Abstract

The mosque of Sidi El Benna is one of the Islamic buildings of Tlemcen which dates from the Zianid era. As this type of style is characterized by the use of geometric proportions, for this reason we designed its planes, facades and sections after taking different measurements. Then, we compared the measurements of the heights, widths, lengths and angles of the different architectural elements in order to find arithmetic and harmonic proportions. We were able to find these last ones in particular the number of gold Φ which is equal to 1.618.  In addition, we could calculate the cubit of this time which is equal to 0.4375 m, it is almost equal to that of the Romans 0.444 m. Other principles of geometric composition are also found such as repetition and symmetry.