EP10: Belvatrian Architecture - TRANSCRIPT

Hi! You're listening to Hyba is Writing, and I am your host, Hyba. Today's episode is about Belvatrian architecture, and it's a bit of a behind-the-scenes kind of discussion because I'm going to focus mainly on the real-world architectural influences that I've drawn inspiration from in my creation of the Empire of Belvatria, which is the main setting for the first book in my fantasy series, The Fall of the Black Masks. So, I wouldn't be surprised if I don't really get to talk all that much about the specifics of Belvatrian architecture, because there's a lot to say!

I'll start off by noting that a lot of my inspiration for Belvatria is drawn from Arab Islamic architecture, but that some of its more iconic and easily-recognizable features, such as the horseshoe or keyhole arches and riads and zellij tiling, take influence from Moorish architecture. The thing that you also have to keep in mind is that these architectural styles, while distinct enough from one another to be distinguishable, didn't exist in vacuums. Moorish architecture was influenced by architectural styles of the Middle East, just as it took influence from pre-Islamic and 'Berber' architectural styles. So, there are going to be features that these very separate places and cultures will have in common.

There is a tendency among literature to present the Orient, as it was called, as one sort of homogenous setting. In my experience, from what I have seen, Moorish architectural influences are some of the most common in Western portrayals of the Orient and Arab/Islamic/Middle Eastern settings in general. I think we could talk for hours about why that is, but I would rather focus on why it doesn't work. As someone who has spent a lot of time in various Islamic countries, I have to note that the architectural styles are extremely different and easily distinguishable. Just as I couldn't pass off this vision of Western architectural style being one homogenous design, I can't claim that all Islamic architecture looks the same. There are similarities, of course - and given the Islamic imperial history of the regions stretching from the Maghreb to the far reaches of India and beyond, it's not difficult to see how that could come to be.

Though there is definitely a lot to be said about cultural hegemony and orientalism and other such arguments made by many scholars on the matter,
 

I think this is a good place to note that I don't mean to vilify anyone here. I am sure there were genuine attempts made by a good number of people to study the intricacies and nuances of different architectural styles in what they termed the Orient.

I will say, however, that as it pertains to artistic portrayals the women of the Orient and anything related to women in that sphere, there are probably a lot of inaccuracies, given the fact that most Orientalist painters that I know of were male and probably wouldn't have been able to have access to many of the scenes that they painted in which women were featured. Additionally, what bothers me especially about Orientalist art - not all of it, for sure, but a great deal of it - is how it tended to portray women when they were painted. There are a lot of paintings of apparently Oriental women in the nude, usually lounging sensually. These artistic portrayals are… misleading, and not just because these men probably would not have had access to women in this way for them to paint them in the first place! These kinds of portrayals definitely place women from these regions under a particularly uncomfortable light in which they were sexualized rather than accurate represented.

In design, we usually look at form and function, and architecture is no different. Architecture is very much related to function. So, if you were to check out Islamic architecture online, you would probably find that most of your results will have something to do with mosques and other places that have important functions in Islamic communities. But even mosques, which provide the same function across all Muslim communities, look very different from one region to another. For example, Google the Hassan II Mosque in Morocco, and then Google the Adina Mosque in India, and then Google the Khanqa Mosque in India again, and then Google the Quba Mosque in Medina. These are all very different, but you can see certain similarities - because these similarities correspond to the common functions these buildings have. Some of these similarities may be due to the flow of styles and art and ideas during the time of Islamic empires rather than function as well, so that's important to note.

Similarly, you will definitely find buildings with common functions in different empires/kingdoms in my fantasy books, which will also have very distinct forms because of the different styles present in each place. However, these buildings will also have certain similarities, because of the common functions they hold. I think this is an interesting little aspect of worldbuilding when it comes to architecture. Looking at the nuances of cultures and societies can also be enlightening for this kind of thing as well. For example, let's think of the public bathhouse, which is something that is present in almost all empires/kingdoms in my world. The internal layout of, say, a Roman bathhouse and a Persian bathhouse are different. Those two, however, might have more similarities with one another, given their shared histories and geographical proximity, than they would with Turkish bathhouses when it comes to certain features that represent certain functions. So that's really cool to keep in mind as well.

I've also made some architectural additions from my own mind, but these aren't quite as developed, since there's got to be a whole story and history behind them, and that takes a while, because I'm also trying to keep the elements in accordance with one another so that these more original architectural additions are not completely clashing with the foundation of Belvatria, which is very much based on the Moorish architecture I mentioned earlier.

I think that's pretty much all I have for today's talk about architecture. I think it was less about Belvatria and more about architecture in general, but I think that's just as important to understand. Leave me your comments, thoughts, questions, or suggestions at my Tumblr or my Twitter, both of which are linked in the episode description.

Thanks so much for tuning in today!
Until next time!