I will appreciate it if you could read with an American Accent!
One of the most attracting features of all Islamic architectural monuments is their focus on the enclosed space, on the inside as opposed to the outside, the facade or the general exterior expression of a building.
A common example of this attitude is the typical Muslim house which is organized around an inner courtyard, creating a unique and interesting organization. Often several houses are collected together into a larger walled complex, accessible only through a single low doorway, which leads to an inner private passageway.
The disregard for the outside appearance of a structure is often developed to the extreme, giving rise to many speculations about the nature of the building. Most of these Islamic structures are completely hidden because they are surrounded by secondary neighboring buildings. Even if a structure has a visible façade or a portal, these features tell us little about the building that lies behind it. The façade gives little indication of the inner organization or purposes of the building in question. It is rare that an Islamic building can be completely understood or identified by its exterior.
At all times and in all religions of the Muslim world, we can find "hidden architecture". In other words, the architecture truly exists only when seen and experienced from within, not from the outside. Despite the fact that exceptions do , of course, exist and we will speak of them presently – “hidden architecture’ may be considered the main and dominant form of truly Islamic architecture.
