An analytical study of the components and damage appearances of stone muqarnas in some ancient buildings in the city of Cairo.

Abdelgwad, Norhan; Gouda, Mostafa; Khallaf, Mohamed

doi:10.21608/mjaf.2023.191692.3023

An analytical study of the components and damage appearances of stone muqarnas in some ancient buildings in the city of Cairo.

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Archaeology

² Professor of Geology and  Laboratory Manager of sedimentary rocks exploration section Petroleum Research Institute

³ Conservation Department, Faculty of Archaeology, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.

10.21608/mjaf.2023.191692.3023

Abstract

Abstract

The goal of This paper is studying the nature of the stone muqarnas and, the damage which done to the muqarnas that have been studied and their components analyzed. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), The X-ray fluorescence (XRF), The Infrared rays (IR) Analysis and polarizing light microscope examination has been utilized to study and to identify muqarnas components. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) for samples of stones and mortar used in muqarnas in Islamic archaeological buildings from three different areas , namely, Al-Aqmar Mosque (Fatimid era), mosque Qanibay al-Muhammadi (Mamluk era)and Muhammad Bey Abu al-Dhahab Mosque (Ottoman era), where we find that the stone was identified in the three locations consisting of calcite (CaCO₃) as a primary compound and quartz (SiO₂) as a secondary compound, as well as a proportion of halite salts (NaCl) as for mortar samples made up of either quartz (SiO₂) and calcite (CaCO₃) or gypsum Ca₂O₄ 2 (H₂O) ,and a proportion of halite (NaCl) ,as those samples were examined by polarizing light microscope, it became clear that the stones samples in the three buildings are limestone Mikriti which consists of fine-grained calcite. Examination showed presence of remains and traces of fossils, in addition to the spread of white spots that may be halite or gypsum salts. Moreover, samples of pigments and gilding were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) to identify their mineral composition and analyzed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to determine their elemental composition; in conclusion it was obvious that the red is hematite Fe₂ O₃, the green is malachite Cu₂CO₃(OH)₂ and the blue is cobalt. The gilding sample, which was revealed through the analysis by X-ray fluorescence, that the sample consists of a simple gold Au percentage of 1.175% in addition to a greater percentage of lead oxide PbO 25.8703 % and zinc oxide ZnO 2.3989 % also an analysis was done by infrared rays (IR) to identify the organic media used, as it appeared to be animal glue.

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