Abstract

Spiral, as one of the decorative elements of Islamic art and on the ground of emphasis on Islamic architecture, has been used by most Muslim and even non-Muslim artists from distant past. Inspiration from nature and styling some of its elements and the existing thing in it and using them in decorative arts, the definition of spiral and its etymology in Islamic art and literature, different origins of decorative spiral: natural, animal, plant & human origins, decorative spiral used in each building, transformation and propagation of decorative spiral in architecture and mentioning the related history and eventually the study of its main origin are among the subject discussed and considered in this paper.