Essai d'application semiotique sur le décor architectural musulman en Algérie

Abstract

Decorative architectural elements of an architectural work are intrinsic values and represent the identity of a monument. But this "identity" is threatened by the current crisis of architectural production with either the improper reuse due mainly to ignorance of history in general and the history of art in particular from the profane or even worse by the architects. This leads to a deeper conclusion problem of Muslim architecture in general and Muslims decorative style in particular and as it is difficult to define precisely, especially scientifically, unlike the classical European architectural styles. But these improper practices affect strongly the urban landscape and sustainability decorative architectural heritage. This shows the importance of the decorative architectural expression of the various Muslim dynasties or civilizations in Algeria and must be therefore considered as a heritage to be preserved and transmitted on. The enhancement of this heritage is first and foremost knowledge of this heritage. Although many works have been done on the topic of Islamic architectural aesthetics in Algeria, it was mainly to document and identify architectural elements; there are few studies that have attempted to give meaning to the mode of use of such items as decorative architectural language. However, research on understanding and decoding of decorative architectural expressions is essential if we are to truly transmit all the values of our heritage and also to allow reuse any respect. The conservation of these decorative expressions for reinterpretation is conditioned first by their understanding of accurately and complete if we truly wants to transmit this heritage. Capitalization and a reading of various sources are then necessary. If we consider the architectural decoration as a language, the use of semiotic methodology may be essential for reading. Indeed this discipline outcome of field of linguistics has been transposed to architecture and art from the late sixties. His contributions were very important in the study of production processes and for understanding architectural styles and thus provide the necessary tools for the critical examination of symbols and information. And an architectural language to understand, it will decompose and segment its various components in order to establish a theoretical meaning. To test the study semiotics, it would be interesting to take for example a major monument of Muslim history in Algeria and the Great Mosque of Tlemcen is probably an ideal case study because the monument is noted for its rich ornamentation on distinguished by the other two great mosques of Algiers and Nedroma built under the same kingdom of Almoravides. Indeed, the mosque has had many contributions and developments over the centuries including the Almoravids and Abdalwadides. Each of these dynasties had its own program and architectural ornament of the time and it would be interesting to see, by studying semiotics, stratification of these different languages