The patterns on the Islamic buildings reminded him of Penrose tiles, which are two simple geometric shapes, usually a kite and a dart or a fat and a skinny rhombus (diamond).

WASHINGTON – Those wondrously intricate tile mosaics that adorn medieval Islamic architecture may cloak a mastery of geometry not matched in the West for hundreds of years. Historians have long ...

WASHINGTON - Those wondrously intricate tile mosaics that adorn medieval Islamic architecture may cloak a mastery of geometry not matched in the West for hundreds of years.

Ars Video However, examination of medieval Islamic decorations, called girih patterns, reveal plenty of five and ten-fold symmetric patterns that, apparently, do tile a surface.

A 700-year-old fresco discovered in the convent church of S. Antonio in Polesine in Ferrara, Italy, reveals that luxurious Islamic tents were used to conceal altars in medieval European churches ...