Application and trends of motifs and styles on mosque ornamentation in Malaysia: from traditional to global

Abstract

Mosque architecture in Malaysia has experienced a phase of development from the 16th century to the present. Moreover, mosque design and styles have various typologies which are heavily influenced by sociocultural factors. The diversity of the architectural design of this mosque also displays the development of Islamic culture and civilization which contains various historical backgrounds and influences, as well as having different timelines. However, this diversity of architectural language creates confusion about identity in the Malaysian mosque scenario. The study also found that there is a lack of documentation studies on the development of ornamentation that includes mosque architecture from the traditional to the global era. Therefore, this study aims to document the development of mosque ornamentation in six different eras in Malaysia and obtain the evolution in the application of motifs and styles. The study consists of 28 case studies of a selected iconic mosque which represent six different eras and adopted mix method strategy including content analysis and frequency analysis to track the pattern of changes and trends. The research findings show that changes in ornamentation involve several factors such as regional, colonialism, political, economic, and sociocultural has shaped the influences and styles of Malaysian mosques. This study also important in explaining the development of aesthetic preference and the application of ornamentation across the eras as well as classifying the style of ornamentation in each era of architecture to enrich the discourse of architecture in Malaysia and build a framework of ornamental design features that have a national identity.