Mosque of Oqba
Encyclopedia
The Mosque of Uqba also known as the Great Mosque of Kairouan (Arabic: جامع القيروان الأكبر), is one of the most important mosque
s in Tunisia
, situated in the UNESCO World Heritage town of Kairouan
.
Built by the Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi
from 670 AD (the year 50 according to the Islamic calendar
) at the founding of the city of Kairouan, the mosque is spread over a surface area of 9,000 square metres and it is one of the oldest places of worship in the Islamic world, as well as a model for all later mosques in the Maghreb
.
The Great Mosque of Kairouan is one of the most impressive and largest islamic monuments in North Africa
, its perimeter is almost equal to 405 metres (1,328 feet).
This vast space contains a hypostyle
prayer hall, a huge marble-paved courtyard and a massive square minaret. In addition to its spiritual prestige, the Mosque of Uqba is one of the masterpieces of both architecture and Islamic art
.
Under the Aghlabid
s (9th century), huge works gave the mosque its present aspect. The fame of the Mosque of Uqba and of the other holy sites at Kairouan
helped the city to develop and repopulate increasingly. The university, consisting of scholars who taught in the mosque, was a centre of education both in Islamic thought and in the secular sciences. Its role can be compared to that of the University of Paris
in the Middle Ages
. With the decline of the city of Kairouan from the mid 11th century, the centre of intellectual thought moved to the University of Ez-Zitouna
in Tunis
.
of Kairouan, the mosque is in the intramural district of Houmat al-Jami (literally "area of the Great Mosque"). This location corresponded originally to the heart of the urban fabric of the city founded by Uqba ibn Nafi
.
But because of the specific nature of the land, crossed by several tributaries of the wadi
s, the urban development of the city stretched southwards. Then there are the upheavals of Kairouan following Hilalian
's invasions in 449 AH
(or 1057 AD) and which led to the decline of the city. For all these reasons, the mosque (which occupies the same place since its founding in 670) is not any more situated in the center of the medina, and is thereby positioned on the extremity, near the walls.
The building is a vast irregular quadrilateral
, longer (with 127.60 meters) from the eastern side than on the opposite side (with 125.20 meters) and less wide (with 72.70 meters) on the north side (the minaret
) that the opposite side (with 78 meters). It covers a total area of 9000 m2.
From the outside, the Great Mosque of Kairouan is a fortress-like building, which required as much by its massive ocher walls of 1.90 meters thick composed of well-worked stones, courses of rubble stone and courses of baked brick
s, as the square angle towers measuring 4.25 meters on each side and the solid and projecting buttress
es that support and bind. More than a defensive role, the buttresses and towers full serve more to enhance the stability of the mosque built on a soil subject to compaction. Although a seemingly harsh, the external facades, punctuated with powerful buttresses and towering porches
, some of which are surmounted by cupola
s, give to the sanctuary a striking aspect characterized by majestic sobriety.
. It was rebuilt by the Ghassanid
general Hasan ibn al-Nu'man
in 703. With the gradual increase of the population of Kairouan and the consequent increase in the number of faithfuls, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik
, Umayyad
Caliph
in Damascus
, charged his governor Bishr ibn Safwan to carry out development work in the city which include the renovation and expansion of the mosque at around 724–728 years. In view of its expansion, he pulled down the mosque and rebuilt it with the exception of the mihrab, it was under his auspices the construction of the minaret began. In 774, a new reconstruction accompanied by modifications and embellishments, took place under the direction of the Abbasid
governor Yazid Ibn Hatim.
Under the rule of Aghlabid sovereigns , Kairouan is at its apogee and the mosque profited from this period of stability and prosperity. In 836, Ziadet-Allah I
reconstructed the mosque once more : this is when the building acquired, at least in its entirety, the appearance we see today, at the same time the mihrab's ribbed dome on squinches was raised. Around 862-863, Abul Ibrahim enlarged the oratory
, with three bays
to the north, and adds the cupola
over the arched portico
which precedes the prayer hall. In 875 Ibrahim II built another three bays, thereby reducing the size of the courtyard which was further limited on the three other sides by the addition of double galleries
.
The current state of the mosque can be traced back to the reign of Aghlabids — no element is earlier than the ninth century besides the mihrab — except for some partial restorations and a few later additions made in 1025 during the reign of Zirids, 1249 and 1293 to 1294 under the reign of Hafsids
1618 at the time of mouradites
beys, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In 1967, major restoration work, over five years and conducted under the direction of the National Institute of Archeology and Art, are being launched throughout the monument, and ends with an official reopening of the mosque during the celebration of Mawlid
of 1972.
. The stories concern mainly the different phases of construction and expansion of the sanctuary, and the successive contributions of many princes to the interior decoration (mihrab, minbar
, ceilings, etc.). Among the authors who have written on the subject and whose stories have survived are Al-Bakri (Andalusian geographer and historian who died in 1094 and who devoted a sufficiently detailed account of the history of the mosque in his book Description of Septentrional
Africa), Al-Nuwayri
(historian who died in Egypt, 1332) and Ibn Nagi (scholar and historian of Kairouan who died around 1435).
On additions and embellishments made to the building by the Aghlabid sovereign Abul Ibrahim, Ibn Nagi gives the following account :
Among the Western travelers, poets and writers who visited Kairouan, some of them leave impressions and testimonies sometimes tinged with emotion or admiration on the mosque. From the eighteenth century, the French doctor
and naturalist
John Andrew Peyssonnel, conducting a study trip to 1724, during the reign of sovereign Al-Husayn Bey I
, underlines the reputation of the mosque as a deemed center of religious and secular studies :
At the same time,the doctor and Anglican priest Thomas Shaw
(1692–1751), touring the Tunis Regency
and passes through Kairouan in 1727, described the mosque as that : " which is considered the most beautiful and the most sacred of Berberian
territories ", evoking for example : " an almost unbelievable number of granite columns ".
At the end of the nineteenth century , the French writer Guy de Maupassant
expresses in his book La vie errante (The wandering), his fascination with the majestic architecture of the Great Mosque of Kairouan as well as the effect created by countless columns : " The unique harmony of this temple consists in the proportion and the number of these slender shafts upholding the building, filling, peopling, and making it what it is, create its grace and greatness. Their colorful multitude gives the eye the impression of unlimited ". Early in the twentieth century, the Austrian poet
Rainer Maria Rilke
describes his admiration for the impressive minaret :
enclosure
of the Great Mosque of Kairouan is pierced by nine gates (six opening on the courtyard, two opening on the prayer hall and a ninth allows access to the maqsura) some of them, such as Bab Al-Ma (Gate of water) located on the western facade, are preceded by salient porches flanked by buttresses and surmounted by ribbed domes based on square tholobate
which are porting squinch
es with three vault
s. However, Arab geographers and historians of the Middle Ages Al-Muqaddasi
and Al-Bakri reported the existence, around the tenth and eleventh centuries, of about ten gates named differently from today. This reflects the fact that, unlike the rest of the mosque, the enclosure has undergone significant changes to ensure the stability of the building (adding many buttresses). Thus, some entries have been sealed, while others were kept.
During the thirteenth century, new gates were opened, the most remarkable, Bab Lalla Rihana dated from 1293, is located on the eastern wall of the enclosure. The monumental entrance, work of the Hafsid
sovereign Abu Hafs `Umar ibn Yahya (reign from 1284 to 1295), is entered in a salient square, flanked by ancient columns supporting des Horseshoe arch
es and covered by a dome on squinch
es. The front facade of the porch has a large horseshoe arch relied on two marble columns and surmounted by a frieze adorned with a blind arcade
, all crowned by serrated merlon
s (in a sawtooth arrangement). Despite its construction at the end of the thirteenth century, Bab Lalla Rihana blends well with all of the building mainly dating from the ninth century.
It is possible to access the courtyard by one of the six side entrances dating from the ninth and thirteenth centuries; through a vast trapezoidal area whose interior dimensions are approximately 65 by 50 meters. It is surrounded on all its four sides by a portico with double rows of arches, opened by slightly horseshoe arches supported by
column
s in various marble
, in granite
or in porphyry
, reused from Roman , Early Christian or Byzantine monuments particularly from Carthage
.
The portico on the south side of the courtyard near the prayer hall, includes in its middle a high and wide arch
full overridden and broken centering based on columns of marble with Corinthian capitals. This porch of seven meters high, is topped with a square base upon which rests a semi-spherical ribbed dome ; the dodecagon
al drum
of the dome is pierced by sixteen small rectangular windows listed in rounded niches. The great central arch of the south portico, is flanked on each side by six rhythmically arranged horseshoe arches, which fall on the twin columns backed by pillars. Overall, the proportions and general provisions of the facade of the south portico, with its thirteen arches of which that in the middle constitutes a sort of triumphal arch crowned with a cupola, form an ensemble with " a powerful air of majesty ", according to the French historian and sociologist Paul Sebag (1919–2004).
Thus, the combination formed by the courtyard and the galleries that surround it covers an immense area whose dimensions are about 90 meters long and 72 meters in width. The northern part of the courtyard is paved with flagstones while the rest of the floor is almost entirely composed of white marble slabs. Near its center is an horizontal sundial
, bearing an inscription in naskhi
engraved on the marble dating from 1258 AH
(which corresponds to the year 1843) and which is accessed by a little staircase ; it determines the time of prayers. The rainwater collector or impluvium
, probably the work of the Muradid
Bey Mohamed Bey al-Mouradi (1686-1696), is an ingenious system that ensures the capture (with the slightly sloping surface of the courtyard) then filtering stormwater at a central basin furnished with horseshoe arches sculpted in white marble. Freed from its impurities, the water flows into an underground cistern
supported by seven meters high pillars. In the courtyard there are also several water well
s some of which are placed side by side. Their edges, obtained from the lower parts of ancient cored columns, support the string grooves back the buckets.
.
The door giving access to the minaret is lined with ancient sculptures. There are stone blocks from the Roman period that bear Latin
inscriptions. Their use probably dates to the work done under Umayyad governor Bishr ibn Safwan in about 725 AD, and they have been reused at the base of the tower. The greater part of the minaret dates from the time of the Aghlabid princes in the ninth century. It consists of regular layers of carefully cut rubble stone, thus giving the work a stylistically admirable homogeneity and unity.
The interior includes a staircase of 129 steps surmounted by a barrel vault, which gives access to terraces and the first tier of the minaret. The courtyard facade (or south facade) of the tower is pierced with windows that provide light and ventilation, while the other three facades—facing north, east and west—are pierced with small openings in the form of Arrowslits. The minaret, in its present aspect, dates largely from the early ninth century, about 836
AD. It is the oldest minaret in the Muslim world
, and it is also the world's oldest minaret still standing.
Due to its age and its architectural features, the minaret of the Great Mosque of Kairouan is the prototype for all the minarets of the western Islamic world : it served as a model in both North Africa
and in Andalusia
. Despite its massive form and austere decoration, it nevertheless presents a harmonious structure and a majestic appearance.
The hypostyle hall
is divided into 17 aisles of eight bays, the central nave is wider, as well as the bay along the wall of the qibla
. They cross with right angle in front of the mihrab, this device, named "T shape", which is also found in two Iraq
i mosques in Samarra
(around 847
) has been adopted in many North African and Andalusian mosques where it became a feature.
The central nave, a sort of triumphal alley which leads to the mihrab, is significantly higher and wider than the other sixteen aisles of the prayer hall. It is bordered on each side of a double row of arches rested on twin columns and surmounted by a carved plaster
decoration consisting of floral and geometric patterns.
Enlightened by impressive chandelier
s which are applied in countless small glass lamps, the nave opens into the south portico of the courtyard by a monumental delicately carved wooden door, made in 1828 under the reign of the Husainids
. This sumptuous door, which has four leaves
richly carved with geometric motifs embossed on the bottom of foliages and interlacing
stars, is decorated at the typanum
by a stylized vase
from which emerge winding stems and leaves. The other doors of the prayer hall, some of which date from the time of Hafsid
, are distinguished by their decor with patterned essentially geometric (hexagonal, octagonal, rectangular, etc.).
, granite
or porphyry
(among more than 500 columns in the whole mosque), taken from ancient sites in the country such as Sbeïtla
Carthage, Hadrumetum
and Chemtou
, support the horseshoe arch
es. A legend
says they could not count them without going blind. The capitals
overcoming the drums columns offer a wide variety of shapes and styles (Corinthian
, ion
, Composite
, etc..). Some capitals were carved for the mosque, but others come from Roman buildings
or Byzantine
(Dating from the second to sixth century) and were reused. According to the German archaeologist Christian Ewert, the special arrangement of reused columns and capitals surrounding the mihrab obeys to a well-defined program and would draw symbolically the plan of the Dome of the Rock
. The shafts of the columns are carved in marble of different colors and different backgrounds. Those in white marble come from Italy
, some shafts located in the area of the mihrab are in red Porphyry imported from Egypt
, while those made of greenish or pink marble are from quarries of Chemtou
, in the north-west of current Tunisia
. Although the shafts are of varying heights, the columns are ingeniously arranged to support fallen arches harmoniously. The height difference is compensated by the development of variable bases, capitals and crossbeams ; a number of these crossbeams are in cedar wood
. The wooden rods, which usually sink to the base of the transom
, connect the columns together and maintain the spacing of the arches, thus enhancing the stability of all structures which support the ceiling of the prayer hall.
The covering of the prayer hall consists of painted ceilings decorated with vegetal motifs and two domes : one raised at the beginning of the central nave and the other in front of the mihrab
. The latter, which its hemispherical
cap is cut by 24 concave grooves
radiating around the top, is based on ridged horns shaped shell and a drum pierced by eight circular windows which are inserted between sixteen niche
s grouped by two. The niches are covered with carved stone panels, finely adorned with geometric and floral motifs characteristics of the Aghlabid decorative repertoire : shells, cusped arches, rosettes, vine-leaf, etc. From the outside, the dome of the mihrab is based on an octagonal drum with slightly concave sides, raised on a square base, decorated on each of its three southern, Easter and western faces with five flat-bottomed niches surmounted by five semi-circular arches, the niche in the middle is cut by a lobed oculus
enrolled in a circular frame. This dome, whose construction goes back to the first half of the ninth century (towards 836), is one of the oldest and remarkable domes in the western Islamic world.
The painted ceilings are a unique ensemble of planks, beams
and brackets, illustrating almost thousand years of the history of painting on wood in Tunisia. Wooden brackets offer a wide variety of style and decor in the shape of a crow or a grasshopper with wings or fixed, they are characterized by a setting that combines floral painted or carved, with grooves. The oldest boards date back to the Aghlabid period (ninth century) and are decorated with scrolls and rosettes on a red background consists of squares with concave sides in which are inscribed four-petaled flowers in green and blue, and those performed by the Zirid
Dynasty (eleventh century) are characterized by inscriptions in black kufic writing with gold rim and the uprights of the letters end with lobed florets, all on a brown background adorned with simple floral patterns.
The boards painted under the Hafsid period (during the thirteenth century) offers a floral decor consists of white and blue arches entwined with lobed green. The latest, dated the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (mostly dating from the time of the Muradid Beys
), are distinguished by an epigraphic decoration consists of long black and red text on green-olive to those painted from 1618 to 1619, under the reign of Murad I, Bey, while those back to the eighteenth century have inscriptions in naskhi white in an orange background.
, which indicates the Qibla
(direction of Mecca
), in front of which stands the imam
during the prayer, is located in the middle of the southern wall of the prayer hall. It is formed by a oven-shaped niche
framed by two marble columns and topped by a painted wooden half-cupola. The niche of the mihrab is two meters long, 4.5 meters high and 1.6 meters deep.
The mosque's mihrab, whose decor is a remarkable witness of Muslim art in the early centuries of Islam, is distinguished by its harmonious composition and the quality of its ornaments. Considered as the oldest example of concave mihrab, it dates in its present state to 862-863 AD.
It is surrounded at its upper part by 139 lusterware
tiles (with a metallic sheen), each one is 21.1 centimeters square and they are arranged on the diagonal in a chessboard pattern. Divided into two groups, they are dated from the beginning of the second half of the ninth century but we don't know with certainty whether they were made in Baghdad
or in Kairouan by a Baghdadi artisan, the controversy over the origin of this precious collection agitates the specialists. These tiles are mainly decorated with floral and plant motifs (stylized flowers, palm leaves and asymmetrical leaves on bottom hatch and checkered) belong to two series : one polychrome characterized by a greater richness of tones ranging from light gold to light, dark or ocher yellow, and from brick-red to brown lacquer, the other monochrome is a beautiful luster that goes from smoked gold to green gold. The coating around them is decorated with blue plant motifs dating from the eighteenth century or the first half of the nineteenth century. The horseshoe arch of the mihrab, stilted and broken at the top, rest on two columns of red marble with yellow veins, which surmounted with Byzantine style capitals that carry two crossbeams carved with floral patterns, each one is decorated with a Kufic
inscription in relief.
The wall of the mihrab is covered with 28 panels of white marble, carved and pierced, which have a wide variety of plant and geometric patterns including the stylized grape leaf, the flower and the shell. Behind the openwork hint, there is an oldest niche on which several assumptions were formulated. If one refers to the story of Al-Bakri, an Andalusian historian and geographer of the eleventh century, it is the mihrab which would be done by Uqba Ibn Nafi, the founder of Kairouan, whereas Lucien Golvin shares the view that it is not an old mihrab but hardly a begun construction which may serve to support marble panels and either goes back to work of Ziadet Allah I (817-838) or to those of Ibrahim Abul around the years 862-863. Above the marble cladding, the mihrab niche is crowned with a half dome-shaped vault made of manchineel bentwood. Covered with a thick coating completely painted, the concavity of the arch is decorated with intertwined scrolls enveloping stylized five-lobed vine leaves, three-lobed florets and sharp clusters, all in yellow on midnight blue background.
The minbar
, situated on the right of the mihrab, is used by the imam during the Friday or Eids
sermons, is a staircase-shaped pulpit with an upper seat, reached by eleven steps, and measuring 3.93 meters length to 3.31 meters in height. Dated from the ninth century (about 862) and erected under the reign of the sixth Aghlabid ruler Abul Ibrahim (856-863), it is made in teak
wood imported from India. Among all the pulpits of the Muslim world, it is certainly the oldest example of minbar still preserved today. Probably made by cabinetmakers of Kairouan (some researchers also refer to Baghdad), it consists of an assembly of more than 300 finely carved wood pieces with an exceptional ornamental wealth (vegetal and geometric patterns refer to the Umayyad and Abbasid models), among which about 90 rectangular panels carved with plenty of pine cones, thin and flexible stems, fruits lanceolate delicately chiselled surface and various geometric shapes (squares, diamonds, stars, etc.). The upper edge of the minbar ramp is decorated with a rich background that includes vegetation foliage wound alternating loops, each loop involves a fig leaf spread with a bunch of grapes hanging. In the early twentieth century, the Minbar had a painstaking restoration. Although more than eleven centuries of existence, all panels, with the exception of nine, are originals and are in a good state of conservation, the fineness of the execution of the minbar makes it a great masterpiece of Islamic wood carving referring to Paul Sebag. This old chair of the ninth century is still in its original location, next to the mihrab.
and dated the first half of the eleventh century, it is considered the oldest still in place in the Islamic world. It is a cedar wood
fence finely sculpted and carved on three sides with various geometric motifs measuring 2.8 meters tall, eight meters long and six meters wide. Its main adornment is a frieze that crowns calligraphy, the latter surmounted by a line of pointed openwork merlon
s, features an inscription in flowery kufic character carved on the background of interlacing plants. Carefully executed in relief, it represents one of the most beautiful epigraphic
bands of Islamic art.
The library is near located, accessible by a door which the jambs
and the lintel
are carved in marble, adorned with a frieze of floral decoration. The library window is marked by an elegant setting that has two columns flanking the opening, which is a horseshoe arch topped by six blind arches and crowned by a series of berms sawtooth.
of Islamic decorative art and architecture. Most of the works on which rests the reputation of the mosque are still conserved in situ while a certain number of them have joined the collections of Raqqada National Museum of Islamic Art ; Raqqada is located about ten kilometers southwest of Kairouan.
From the library of the mosque comes a large collection of calligraphic scroll
s and manuscript
s, the oldest dating back to the second half of the ninth century. This valuable collection, observed from the late nineteenth century by the French orientalists Octave Houdas and René Basset who mention in their report on their scientific mission in Tunisia published in the Journal of African correspondence in 1882, comprises according to the established inventory the time of Hafsid (circa 1293-1294) several Qur'ans and books of fiqh
that concern mainly the Maliki
fiqh and its sources. These are the oldest fund of Maliki legal literature to have survived.
Among the finest works of this series, the blue pages of the Qur'an, currently exhibited at Raqqada National Museum of Islamic Art, from a famous Qur'an in the second half of the fourth century of the Hegira (the tenth century) most of which is preserved in Tunisia and the rest scattered in museums and private collections worldwide. Featuring kufic character sura
s are written in gold on vellum
dyed with indigo
, they are distinguished by a compact graph with no marks for vowels. The beginning of each Surah is indicated by a band consisting of a golden stylized leafy foliage, dotted with red and blue, while the verses
are separated by silver rosettes. Other scrolls and calligraphic Qur'ans, as that known as the Hadinah's Qur'an, copied and illuminated by the calligrapher Ali ibn Ahmad al-Warraq for the governess of the Zirid prince Al-Muizz ibn Badis at about 1020 AD, were also in the library before being transferred to Raqqada museum. This collection is a unique source for studying the history and evolution of calligraphy of medieval manuscripts in the Maghreb, covering the period from the ninth to the eleventh century.
Other works of art such as the crowns of light (circular chandeliers) made in cast bronze
, dating from the Fatimid
-Zirid
period (around tenth-early eleventh century), originally belonged to the furniture of the mosque. These polycandelon, now scattered in various Tunisian museums including Raqqada consist of three chains, supporting a perforated brass plate, which has a central circular ring around which radiate 18 equidistant poles connected by many horseshoe arches and equipped for each of two landmarks flared. The three chains, connected by a suspension ring, are each fixed to the plate by an almond-shaped finial. The crowns of light are marked by Byzantine influence to which the Kairouanese artisan brought the specificities of Islamic decorative repertoire (geometric and floral motifs).
In addition to studies on the deepening of religious thought and Maliki jurisprudence
, the mosque also hosts various courses in secular subjects such as mathematics, astronomy
, medicine and botany
. The transmission of knowledge is assured by prominent scholars and theologians which include Sahnun ibn Sa'id
and Asad ibn al-Furat
, eminent jurists who contributed greatly to the dissemination of the Maliki thought, Ishaq ibn Imran and Ibn al-Jazzar
in medicine, Abu Sahl al-Kairouani and Abd al-Kindi al-Monim in mathematics
. Thus the mosque, headquarters of a prestigious university with a large library containing a large number of scientific and theological works, was the most remarkable intellectual and cultural center in North Africa during the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries.
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s in Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
, situated in the UNESCO World Heritage town of Kairouan
Kairouan
Kairouan , also known as Kirwan or al-Qayrawan , is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia. Referred to as the Islamic Cultural Capital, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city was founded by the Arabs around 670...
.
Built by the Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi
Uqba ibn Nafi
Uqba ibn Nafi was an Arab hero and general who was serving the Umayyad dynasty, in Amir Muavia and Yazid periods, who began the Islamic conquest of the Maghreb, including present-day Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Morocco in North Africa. He was the nephew of 'Amr ibn al-'As. Uqba is often surnamed...
from 670 AD (the year 50 according to the Islamic calendar
Islamic calendar
The Hijri calendar , also known as the Muslim calendar or Islamic calendar , is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic...
) at the founding of the city of Kairouan, the mosque is spread over a surface area of 9,000 square metres and it is one of the oldest places of worship in the Islamic world, as well as a model for all later mosques in the Maghreb
Maghreb
The Maghreb is the region of Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara...
.
The Great Mosque of Kairouan is one of the most impressive and largest islamic monuments in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
, its perimeter is almost equal to 405 metres (1,328 feet).
This vast space contains a hypostyle
Hypostyle
In architecture, a hypostyle hall has a roof which is supported by columns, as in the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. The word hypostyle comes from the Ancient Greek hypóstȳlos meaning "under columns"...
prayer hall, a huge marble-paved courtyard and a massive square minaret. In addition to its spiritual prestige, the Mosque of Uqba is one of the masterpieces of both architecture and Islamic art
Islamic art
Islamic art encompasses the visual arts produced from the 7th century onwards by people who lived within the territory that was inhabited by or ruled by culturally Islamic populations...
.
Under the Aghlabid
Aghlabid
The Aghlabids were a dynasty of emirs, members of the Arab tribe of Bani Tamim, who ruled Ifriqiya, nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a century, until overthrown by the new power of the Fatimid.-History:...
s (9th century), huge works gave the mosque its present aspect. The fame of the Mosque of Uqba and of the other holy sites at Kairouan
Kairouan
Kairouan , also known as Kirwan or al-Qayrawan , is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia. Referred to as the Islamic Cultural Capital, it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city was founded by the Arabs around 670...
helped the city to develop and repopulate increasingly. The university, consisting of scholars who taught in the mosque, was a centre of education both in Islamic thought and in the secular sciences. Its role can be compared to that of the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. With the decline of the city of Kairouan from the mid 11th century, the centre of intellectual thought moved to the University of Ez-Zitouna
University of Ez-Zitouna
Ez-Zitouna University is located in Tunis. It is claimed to be the oldest teaching establishment in the Arab World, since the Ez-Zitouna madrassa was founded in 737 C.E...
in Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
.
Location and general aspect
Located in the north-east of the medinaMedina quarter
A medina quarter is a distinct city section found in many North African cities. The medina is typically walled, contains many narrow and maze-like streets...
of Kairouan, the mosque is in the intramural district of Houmat al-Jami (literally "area of the Great Mosque"). This location corresponded originally to the heart of the urban fabric of the city founded by Uqba ibn Nafi
Uqba ibn Nafi
Uqba ibn Nafi was an Arab hero and general who was serving the Umayyad dynasty, in Amir Muavia and Yazid periods, who began the Islamic conquest of the Maghreb, including present-day Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Morocco in North Africa. He was the nephew of 'Amr ibn al-'As. Uqba is often surnamed...
.
But because of the specific nature of the land, crossed by several tributaries of the wadi
Wadi
Wadi is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some cases, it may refer to a dry riverbed that contains water only during times of heavy rain or simply an intermittent stream.-Variant names:...
s, the urban development of the city stretched southwards. Then there are the upheavals of Kairouan following Hilalian
Banu Hilal
The Banu Hilal were a confederation of Arabian Bedouin tribes that migrated from Upper Egypt into North Africa in the 11th century, having been sent by the Fatimids to punish the Zirids for abandoning Shiism. Other authors suggest that the tribes left the grasslands on the upper Nile because of...
's invasions in 449 AH
Islamic calendar
The Hijri calendar , also known as the Muslim calendar or Islamic calendar , is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic...
(or 1057 AD) and which led to the decline of the city. For all these reasons, the mosque (which occupies the same place since its founding in 670) is not any more situated in the center of the medina, and is thereby positioned on the extremity, near the walls.
The building is a vast irregular quadrilateral
Quadrilateral
In Euclidean plane geometry, a quadrilateral is a polygon with four sides and four vertices or corners. Sometimes, the term quadrangle is used, by analogy with triangle, and sometimes tetragon for consistency with pentagon , hexagon and so on...
, longer (with 127.60 meters) from the eastern side than on the opposite side (with 125.20 meters) and less wide (with 72.70 meters) on the north side (the minaret
Minaret
A minaret مناره , sometimes مئذنه) is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques, generally a tall spire with an onion-shaped or conical crown, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery....
) that the opposite side (with 78 meters). It covers a total area of 9000 m2.
From the outside, the Great Mosque of Kairouan is a fortress-like building, which required as much by its massive ocher walls of 1.90 meters thick composed of well-worked stones, courses of rubble stone and courses of baked brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
s, as the square angle towers measuring 4.25 meters on each side and the solid and projecting buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
es that support and bind. More than a defensive role, the buttresses and towers full serve more to enhance the stability of the mosque built on a soil subject to compaction. Although a seemingly harsh, the external facades, punctuated with powerful buttresses and towering porches
Porches
Porches may refer to:* Porches , a civil parish in the municipality of Lagoa, Algarve, Portugal* Porches Pottery , producer of hand-painted pottery...
, some of which are surmounted by cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
s, give to the sanctuary a striking aspect characterized by majestic sobriety.
Evolutions
At the foundation of Kairouan in 670, the Arab general and conqueror Uqba Ibn Nafi (himself the founder of the city) has chosen the site of his mosque in the center of the city, near the headquarters of the governor. Shortly after its construction, the mosque was destroyed about 690, during the occupation of Kairouan by the Berbers, originally conducted by KusailaKusaila
Kusaila or Kasila or Kusayla was a 7th century chief of the Awraba tribe of the Berber people and head of the Sanhadja confederation...
. It was rebuilt by the Ghassanid
Ghassanids
The Ghassanids were a group of South Arabian Christian tribes that emigrated in the early 3rd century from Yemen to Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and the Holy Land....
general Hasan ibn al-Nu'man
Hasan ibn al-Nu'man
Hasan ibn an-Nu`uman al-Ghasani , amir of the Umayyad army in North Africa. The nisba indicates he either came from Ghassān in Yemen or was part of an Arab tribe originally from that area.-Biography:...
in 703. With the gradual increase of the population of Kairouan and the consequent increase in the number of faithfuls, Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik 10th Umayyad caliph who ruled from 723 until his death in 743. When he was born in 691 his mother named him after her father....
, Umayyad
Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...
Caliph
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
in Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
, charged his governor Bishr ibn Safwan to carry out development work in the city which include the renovation and expansion of the mosque at around 724–728 years. In view of its expansion, he pulled down the mosque and rebuilt it with the exception of the mihrab, it was under his auspices the construction of the minaret began. In 774, a new reconstruction accompanied by modifications and embellishments, took place under the direction of the Abbasid
Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate or, more simply, the Abbasids , was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphate from all but the al-Andalus region....
governor Yazid Ibn Hatim.
Under the rule of Aghlabid sovereigns , Kairouan is at its apogee and the mosque profited from this period of stability and prosperity. In 836, Ziadet-Allah I
Ziyadat Allah I of Aghlabids
Ziyadat Allah I was the third Aghlabid Emir in Ifriqiya 817 until his death.Abu Muhammand Ziyadat Allah I succeeded his brother Abdallah I to the Emirate of Ifriqiya. During his rule the relationship between the ruling dynasty on the one hand and the jurists and Arab troops on the other remained...
reconstructed the mosque once more : this is when the building acquired, at least in its entirety, the appearance we see today, at the same time the mihrab's ribbed dome on squinches was raised. Around 862-863, Abul Ibrahim enlarged the oratory
Oratory (worship)
An oratory is a Christian room for prayer, from the Latin orare, to pray.-Catholic church:In the Roman Catholic Church, an oratory is a structure other than a parish church, set aside by ecclesiastical authority for prayer and the celebration of Mass...
, with three bays
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
to the north, and adds the cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
over the arched portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
which precedes the prayer hall. In 875 Ibrahim II built another three bays, thereby reducing the size of the courtyard which was further limited on the three other sides by the addition of double galleries
Long gallery
Long gallery is an architectural term given to a long, narrow room, often with a high ceiling. In British architecture, long galleries were popular in Elizabethan and Jacobean houses. They were often located on the upper floor of the great houses of the time, and stretched across the entire...
.
The current state of the mosque can be traced back to the reign of Aghlabids — no element is earlier than the ninth century besides the mihrab — except for some partial restorations and a few later additions made in 1025 during the reign of Zirids, 1249 and 1293 to 1294 under the reign of Hafsids
Hafsid dynasty
The Hafsids were a Berber dynasty ruling Ifriqiya from 1229 to 1574. Their territories were stretched from east of modern Algeria to west of modern Libya during their zenith.-History:...
1618 at the time of mouradites
Muradid Dynasty
The Muradid Dynasty was a dynasty which ruled over Tunisia from 1613 to 1705.-History:The dynasty was founded by Murad Bey, a janissary of Corsican origin. Ramdan Bey, ruler of Tunis, had sponsored the Corsican Murad since his youth. After Ramdan's death in 1613, Murad then followed his...
beys, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In 1967, major restoration work, over five years and conducted under the direction of the National Institute of Archeology and Art, are being launched throughout the monument, and ends with an official reopening of the mosque during the celebration of Mawlid
Mawlid
Mawlid or sometimes ميلاد , mīlād is a term used to refer to the observance of the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad which occurs in Rabi' al-awwal,...
of 1972.
Host stories
Several centuries after its founding, the Great Mosque of Kairouan is the subject of numerous descriptions by Arab historians and geographers in the Middle AgesMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. The stories concern mainly the different phases of construction and expansion of the sanctuary, and the successive contributions of many princes to the interior decoration (mihrab, minbar
Minbar
A minbar is a pulpit in the mosque where the imam stands to deliver sermons or in the Hussainia where the speaker sits and lectures the congregation...
, ceilings, etc.). Among the authors who have written on the subject and whose stories have survived are Al-Bakri (Andalusian geographer and historian who died in 1094 and who devoted a sufficiently detailed account of the history of the mosque in his book Description of Septentrional
Septentrional
Septentrional is a word that means "of the north", rarely used in English but commonly used in Latin and in the Romance languages. Early maps of North America, mostly those before 1700, often refer to the northern- or northwestern-most unexplored areas of the continent at "Septentrional" or...
Africa), Al-Nuwayri
Al-Nuwayri
Al-Nuwayrī, also Shihāb al-Dīn Ahmad b. 'Abd al-Wahhāb al-Nuwayri was a Muslim historian. He died in 1333.He is known for his work regarding the conquest of the Mongols in Syria, and wrote extensively about the history of the Mamluks in the 12th-13th century.-References:* The Historiography of...
(historian who died in Egypt, 1332) and Ibn Nagi (scholar and historian of Kairouan who died around 1435).
On additions and embellishments made to the building by the Aghlabid sovereign Abul Ibrahim, Ibn Nagi gives the following account :
Among the Western travelers, poets and writers who visited Kairouan, some of them leave impressions and testimonies sometimes tinged with emotion or admiration on the mosque. From the eighteenth century, the French doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and naturalist
Naturalist
Naturalist may refer to:* Practitioner of natural history* Conservationist* Advocate of naturalism * Naturalist , autobiography-See also:* The American Naturalist, periodical* Naturalism...
John Andrew Peyssonnel, conducting a study trip to 1724, during the reign of sovereign Al-Husayn Bey I
Al-Husayn I ibn Ali at-Turki
Al-Husayn I ibn Ali at-Turki was the founder of the Husainid Dynasty, which ruled Tunisia until 1957.-Biography:Husayn was of Cretan origin, although it is not known for sure whether Greek or Turkish...
, underlines the reputation of the mosque as a deemed center of religious and secular studies :
At the same time,the doctor and Anglican priest Thomas Shaw
Thomas Shaw
Thomas Shaw may refer to:* Thomas Shaw , born about 1692 in Kendal, Westmoreland.* Thomas Shaw, 1st Baron Craigmyle , Scottish politician and judge...
(1692–1751), touring the Tunis Regency
History of Ottoman-era Tunisia
The History of Ottoman era Tunisia presents the Turkish presence in Ifriqiya during the course of three centuries. Eventually including all of the Maghrib except Morocco, the Ottoman Empire began with the takeover of Algiers in 1516 by a Turkish corsair and ally...
and passes through Kairouan in 1727, described the mosque as that : " which is considered the most beautiful and the most sacred of Berberian
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
territories ", evoking for example : " an almost unbelievable number of granite columns ".
At the end of the nineteenth century , the French writer Guy de Maupassant
Guy de Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents....
expresses in his book La vie errante (The wandering), his fascination with the majestic architecture of the Great Mosque of Kairouan as well as the effect created by countless columns : " The unique harmony of this temple consists in the proportion and the number of these slender shafts upholding the building, filling, peopling, and making it what it is, create its grace and greatness. Their colorful multitude gives the eye the impression of unlimited ". Early in the twentieth century, the Austrian poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
Rainer Maria Rilke
Rainer Maria Rilke
René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke , better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language...
describes his admiration for the impressive minaret :
enclosure
Enclosure (archaeology)
In archaeology, an enclosure is one of the most common types of archaeological site. It is any area of land separated from surrounding land by earthworks, walls or fencing. Such a simple feature is found all over the world and during almost all archaeological periods...
of the Great Mosque of Kairouan is pierced by nine gates (six opening on the courtyard, two opening on the prayer hall and a ninth allows access to the maqsura) some of them, such as Bab Al-Ma (Gate of water) located on the western facade, are preceded by salient porches flanked by buttresses and surmounted by ribbed domes based on square tholobate
Tholobate
A tholobate or drum, in architecture, is the upright part of a building on which a dome is raised. It is generally in the shape of a cylinder or a polygonal prism....
which are porting squinch
Squinch
A squinch in architecture is a construction filling in the upper angles of a square room so as to form a base to receive an octagonal or spherical dome...
es with three vault
Vault (architecture)
A Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that require a counter resistance. When vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required...
s. However, Arab geographers and historians of the Middle Ages Al-Muqaddasi
Al-Muqaddasi
Muhammad ibn Ahmad Shams al-Din Al-Muqaddasi , also transliterated as Al-Maqdisi and el-Mukaddasi, was a medieval Arab geographer, author of Ahsan at-Taqasim fi Ma`rifat il-Aqalim .-Biography:Al-Muqaddasi, "the Hierosolomite" was born in Jerusalem in 946 AD...
and Al-Bakri reported the existence, around the tenth and eleventh centuries, of about ten gates named differently from today. This reflects the fact that, unlike the rest of the mosque, the enclosure has undergone significant changes to ensure the stability of the building (adding many buttresses). Thus, some entries have been sealed, while others were kept.
During the thirteenth century, new gates were opened, the most remarkable, Bab Lalla Rihana dated from 1293, is located on the eastern wall of the enclosure. The monumental entrance, work of the Hafsid
Hafsid dynasty
The Hafsids were a Berber dynasty ruling Ifriqiya from 1229 to 1574. Their territories were stretched from east of modern Algeria to west of modern Libya during their zenith.-History:...
sovereign Abu Hafs `Umar ibn Yahya (reign from 1284 to 1295), is entered in a salient square, flanked by ancient columns supporting des Horseshoe arch
Horseshoe arch
The horseshoe arch, also called the Moorish arch and the Keyhole arch, is the emblematic arch of Islamic architecture. They were formerly constructed in Visigothic Spain. Horseshoe arches can take rounded, pointed or lobed form....
es and covered by a dome on squinch
Squinch
A squinch in architecture is a construction filling in the upper angles of a square room so as to form a base to receive an octagonal or spherical dome...
es. The front facade of the porch has a large horseshoe arch relied on two marble columns and surmounted by a frieze adorned with a blind arcade
Blind arcade
A blind arcade is an arcade that is composed of a series of arches that has no actual openings and that is applied to the surface of a wall as a decorative element: i.e. the arches are not windows or openings but are part of the masonry face. It is designed as an ornamental architectural element,...
, all crowned by serrated merlon
Merlon
In architecture, a merlon forms the solid part of an embattled parapet, sometimes pierced by embrasures. The space between two merlons is usually called a crenel, although those later designed and used for cannons were called embrasures.-Etymology:...
s (in a sawtooth arrangement). Despite its construction at the end of the thirteenth century, Bab Lalla Rihana blends well with all of the building mainly dating from the ninth century.
Courtyard area and porticoes
column
Column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces...
s in various marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
, in granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
or in porphyry
Porphyry (geology)
Porphyry is a variety of igneous rock consisting of large-grained crystals, such as feldspar or quartz, dispersed in a fine-grained feldspathic matrix or groundmass. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts...
, reused from Roman , Early Christian or Byzantine monuments particularly from Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
.
The portico on the south side of the courtyard near the prayer hall, includes in its middle a high and wide arch
Arch
An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...
full overridden and broken centering based on columns of marble with Corinthian capitals. This porch of seven meters high, is topped with a square base upon which rests a semi-spherical ribbed dome ; the dodecagon
Dodecagon
In geometry, a dodecagon is any polygon with twelve sides and twelve angles.- Regular dodecagon :It usually refers to a regular dodecagon, having all sides of equal length and all angles equal to 150°...
al drum
Tholobate
A tholobate or drum, in architecture, is the upright part of a building on which a dome is raised. It is generally in the shape of a cylinder or a polygonal prism....
of the dome is pierced by sixteen small rectangular windows listed in rounded niches. The great central arch of the south portico, is flanked on each side by six rhythmically arranged horseshoe arches, which fall on the twin columns backed by pillars. Overall, the proportions and general provisions of the facade of the south portico, with its thirteen arches of which that in the middle constitutes a sort of triumphal arch crowned with a cupola, form an ensemble with " a powerful air of majesty ", according to the French historian and sociologist Paul Sebag (1919–2004).
Details of the courtyard
Sundial
A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...
, bearing an inscription in naskhi
Naskh (script)
Naskh is a specific calligraphic style for writing in the Arabic alphabet, thought to be invented by the Iranian calligrapher Ibn Muqlah Shirazi . The root of this Arabic term means "to copy". It either refers to the fact that it replaced its predecessor, Kufic script, or that this style allows...
engraved on the marble dating from 1258 AH
Islamic calendar
The Hijri calendar , also known as the Muslim calendar or Islamic calendar , is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months in a year of 354 or 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries , and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic...
(which corresponds to the year 1843) and which is accessed by a little staircase ; it determines the time of prayers. The rainwater collector or impluvium
Impluvium
The impluvium is the sunken part of the atrium in a Greek or Roman house . Designed to carry away the rainwater coming through the compluvium of the roof, it is usually made of marble and placed about 30 cm below the floor of the atrium.The name is also used for a type of dwelling typical of...
, probably the work of the Muradid
Muradid Dynasty
The Muradid Dynasty was a dynasty which ruled over Tunisia from 1613 to 1705.-History:The dynasty was founded by Murad Bey, a janissary of Corsican origin. Ramdan Bey, ruler of Tunis, had sponsored the Corsican Murad since his youth. After Ramdan's death in 1613, Murad then followed his...
Bey Mohamed Bey al-Mouradi (1686-1696), is an ingenious system that ensures the capture (with the slightly sloping surface of the courtyard) then filtering stormwater at a central basin furnished with horseshoe arches sculpted in white marble. Freed from its impurities, the water flows into an underground cistern
Cistern
A cistern is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by their waterproof linings...
supported by seven meters high pillars. In the courtyard there are also several water well
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
s some of which are placed side by side. Their edges, obtained from the lower parts of ancient cored columns, support the string grooves back the buckets.
Minaret
The minaret, which occupies the center of the northern facade of the complex's enclosure, is 31.5 meters tall and is seated on a square base of 10.7 meters on each side. It is located inside the enclosure and does not have direct access from the outside. It consists of three tapering levels, the last of which is topped with a small ribbed dome that was most probably built later than the rest of the tower. Each of the three tiers has a railing with crenelated rounded battlements. The minaret served as a watchtower, as well as to call the faithful to prayerPrayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
.
The door giving access to the minaret is lined with ancient sculptures. There are stone blocks from the Roman period that bear Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
inscriptions. Their use probably dates to the work done under Umayyad governor Bishr ibn Safwan in about 725 AD, and they have been reused at the base of the tower. The greater part of the minaret dates from the time of the Aghlabid princes in the ninth century. It consists of regular layers of carefully cut rubble stone, thus giving the work a stylistically admirable homogeneity and unity.
The interior includes a staircase of 129 steps surmounted by a barrel vault, which gives access to terraces and the first tier of the minaret. The courtyard facade (or south facade) of the tower is pierced with windows that provide light and ventilation, while the other three facades—facing north, east and west—are pierced with small openings in the form of Arrowslits. The minaret, in its present aspect, dates largely from the early ninth century, about 836
836
Year 836 was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.- Asia :* Abbasid caliph al-Mutasim establishes a new capital at Samarra, Iraq.- Europe :...
AD. It is the oldest minaret in the Muslim world
Muslim world
The term Muslim world has several meanings. In a religious sense, it refers to those who adhere to the teachings of Islam, referred to as Muslims. In a cultural sense, it refers to Islamic civilization, inclusive of non-Muslims living in that civilization...
, and it is also the world's oldest minaret still standing.
Due to its age and its architectural features, the minaret of the Great Mosque of Kairouan is the prototype for all the minarets of the western Islamic world : it served as a model in both North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
and in Andalusia
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
. Despite its massive form and austere decoration, it nevertheless presents a harmonious structure and a majestic appearance.
Prayer hall
The prayer hall is located on the southern side of the courtyard ; and is accessed by 17 carved wooden doors. A portico with double row of arches precede the spacious Prayer Hall, which takes the shape of a rectangle of 70.6 meters in width and 37.5 meters depth.The hypostyle hall
Hypostyle
In architecture, a hypostyle hall has a roof which is supported by columns, as in the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. The word hypostyle comes from the Ancient Greek hypóstȳlos meaning "under columns"...
is divided into 17 aisles of eight bays, the central nave is wider, as well as the bay along the wall of the qibla
Qibla
The Qiblah , also transliterated as Qibla, Kiblah or Kibla, is the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays during salah...
. They cross with right angle in front of the mihrab, this device, named "T shape", which is also found in two Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
i mosques in Samarra
Samarra
Sāmarrā is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Salah ad-Din Governorate, north of Baghdad and, in 2003, had an estimated population of 348,700....
(around 847
847
Year 847 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Bari is captured by the Saracens....
) has been adopted in many North African and Andalusian mosques where it became a feature.
The central nave, a sort of triumphal alley which leads to the mihrab, is significantly higher and wider than the other sixteen aisles of the prayer hall. It is bordered on each side of a double row of arches rested on twin columns and surmounted by a carved plaster
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
decoration consisting of floral and geometric patterns.
Enlightened by impressive chandelier
Chandelier
A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light...
s which are applied in countless small glass lamps, the nave opens into the south portico of the courtyard by a monumental delicately carved wooden door, made in 1828 under the reign of the Husainids
Husainid Dynasty
The Husainid Dynasty is the former ruling dynasty of Tunisia originally of Cretan origin. They came to power under Al-Husayn I ibn Ali at-Turki in 1705 replacing the Muradid Dynasty. After taking power the Husainids ruled as Beys with succession to the throne determined by age with the oldest...
. This sumptuous door, which has four leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
richly carved with geometric motifs embossed on the bottom of foliages and interlacing
Endless knot
The endless knot or eternal knot is a symbolic knot and one of the Eight Auspicious Symbols. It is an important cultural marker in places significantly influenced by Tibetan Buddhism such as Tibet, Mongolia, Tuva, Kalmykia, and Buryatia...
stars, is decorated at the typanum
Tympanum (architecture)
In architecture, a tympanum is the semi-circular or triangular decorative wall surface over an entrance, bounded by a lintel and arch. It often contains sculpture or other imagery or ornaments. Most architectural styles include this element....
by a stylized vase
Vase
The vase is an open container, often used to hold cut flowers. It can be made from a number of materials including ceramics and glass. The vase is often decorated and thus used to extend the beauty of its contents....
from which emerge winding stems and leaves. The other doors of the prayer hall, some of which date from the time of Hafsid
Hafsid dynasty
The Hafsids were a Berber dynasty ruling Ifriqiya from 1229 to 1574. Their territories were stretched from east of modern Algeria to west of modern Libya during their zenith.-History:...
, are distinguished by their decor with patterned essentially geometric (hexagonal, octagonal, rectangular, etc.).
Columns and ceiling
In the prayer hall, the 414 columns of marbleMarble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
, granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
or porphyry
Porphyry (geology)
Porphyry is a variety of igneous rock consisting of large-grained crystals, such as feldspar or quartz, dispersed in a fine-grained feldspathic matrix or groundmass. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts...
(among more than 500 columns in the whole mosque), taken from ancient sites in the country such as Sbeïtla
Sbeitla
Sbeitla is a small town in north-central Tunisia. Nearby are the Roman ruins of Sufetula, containing the best preserved Forum temples in Tunisia...
Carthage, Hadrumetum
Hadrumetum
Hadrumetum was a Phoenician colony that pre-dated Carthage and stood on the site of modern-day Sousse, Tunisia.-Ancient history:...
and Chemtou
Chemtou
Chemtou or Chimtou is an ancient site in northwestern Tunisia, located 20 km from the city of Jendouba, near the Algerian border.Ancient Simitthu is known for its important marble quarries which were exploited from the 2nd century BC.The Chemtou Museum displays artifacts discovered in the...
, support the horseshoe arch
Horseshoe arch
The horseshoe arch, also called the Moorish arch and the Keyhole arch, is the emblematic arch of Islamic architecture. They were formerly constructed in Visigothic Spain. Horseshoe arches can take rounded, pointed or lobed form....
es. A legend
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
says they could not count them without going blind. The capitals
Capital (architecture)
In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
overcoming the drums columns offer a wide variety of shapes and styles (Corinthian
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
, ion
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
, Composite
Composite order
The composite order is a mixed order, combining the volutes of the Ionic order capital with the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian order. The composite order volutes are larger, however, and the composite order also has echinus molding with egg-and-dart ornamentation between the volutes...
, etc..). Some capitals were carved for the mosque, but others come from Roman buildings
Roman architecture
Ancient Roman architecture adopted certain aspects of Ancient Greek architecture, creating a new architectural style. The Romans were indebted to their Etruscan neighbors and forefathers who supplied them with a wealth of knowledge essential for future architectural solutions, such as hydraulics...
or Byzantine
Byzantine architecture
Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. The empire gradually emerged as a distinct artistic and cultural entity from what is today referred to as the Roman Empire after AD 330, when the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire east from Rome to...
(Dating from the second to sixth century) and were reused. According to the German archaeologist Christian Ewert, the special arrangement of reused columns and capitals surrounding the mihrab obeys to a well-defined program and would draw symbolically the plan of the Dome of the Rock
Dome of the Rock
The Dome of the Rock is a shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. The structure has been refurbished many times since its initial completion in 691 CE at the order of Umayyad Caliph Abd al-Malik...
. The shafts of the columns are carved in marble of different colors and different backgrounds. Those in white marble come from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, some shafts located in the area of the mihrab are in red Porphyry imported from Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, while those made of greenish or pink marble are from quarries of Chemtou
Chemtou
Chemtou or Chimtou is an ancient site in northwestern Tunisia, located 20 km from the city of Jendouba, near the Algerian border.Ancient Simitthu is known for its important marble quarries which were exploited from the 2nd century BC.The Chemtou Museum displays artifacts discovered in the...
, in the north-west of current Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
. Although the shafts are of varying heights, the columns are ingeniously arranged to support fallen arches harmoniously. The height difference is compensated by the development of variable bases, capitals and crossbeams ; a number of these crossbeams are in cedar wood
Cedar wood
Cedar wood comes from several different trees that grow in different parts of the world, and may have different uses.* California incense-cedar, from Calocedrus decurrens, is the primary type of wood used for making pencils...
. The wooden rods, which usually sink to the base of the transom
Transom
Transom may refer to:* Transom , a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window* Transom , one of the beams running athwart the ship's hull at the fashion timbers or the surface that forms the flat back panel of a stern of a vessel* Operation Transom, a major bombing raid* Transom knot,...
, connect the columns together and maintain the spacing of the arches, thus enhancing the stability of all structures which support the ceiling of the prayer hall.
The covering of the prayer hall consists of painted ceilings decorated with vegetal motifs and two domes : one raised at the beginning of the central nave and the other in front of the mihrab
Mihrab
A mihrab is semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla; that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying...
. The latter, which its hemispherical
Hemisphere
Hemisphere may refer to:*Half of a sphereAs half of the Earth:*Any half of the Earth, see Hemispheres of the Earth, see:...
cap is cut by 24 concave grooves
Fluting (architecture)
Fluting in architecture refers to the shallow grooves running vertically along a surface.It typically refers to the grooves running on a column shaft or a pilaster, but need not necessarily be restricted to those two applications...
radiating around the top, is based on ridged horns shaped shell and a drum pierced by eight circular windows which are inserted between sixteen niche
Niche (architecture)
A niche in classical architecture is an exedra or an apse that has been reduced in size, retaining the half-dome heading usual for an apse. Nero's Domus Aurea was the first semi-private dwelling that possessed rooms that were given richly varied floor plans, shaped with niches and exedras;...
s grouped by two. The niches are covered with carved stone panels, finely adorned with geometric and floral motifs characteristics of the Aghlabid decorative repertoire : shells, cusped arches, rosettes, vine-leaf, etc. From the outside, the dome of the mihrab is based on an octagonal drum with slightly concave sides, raised on a square base, decorated on each of its three southern, Easter and western faces with five flat-bottomed niches surmounted by five semi-circular arches, the niche in the middle is cut by a lobed oculus
Oculus
An Oculus, circular window, or rain-hole is a feature of Classical architecture since the 16th century. They are often denoted by their French name, oeil de boeuf, or "bull's-eye". Such circular or oval windows express the presence of a mezzanine on a building's façade without competing for...
enrolled in a circular frame. This dome, whose construction goes back to the first half of the ninth century (towards 836), is one of the oldest and remarkable domes in the western Islamic world.
The painted ceilings are a unique ensemble of planks, beams
Beam (structure)
A beam is a horizontal structural element that is capable of withstanding load primarily by resisting bending. The bending force induced into the material of the beam as a result of the external loads, own weight, span and external reactions to these loads is called a bending moment.- Overview...
and brackets, illustrating almost thousand years of the history of painting on wood in Tunisia. Wooden brackets offer a wide variety of style and decor in the shape of a crow or a grasshopper with wings or fixed, they are characterized by a setting that combines floral painted or carved, with grooves. The oldest boards date back to the Aghlabid period (ninth century) and are decorated with scrolls and rosettes on a red background consists of squares with concave sides in which are inscribed four-petaled flowers in green and blue, and those performed by the Zirid
Zirid
The Zirid dynasty were a Sanhadja Berber dynasty, originating in modern Algeria, initially on behalf of the Fatimids, for about two centuries, until weakened by the Banu Hilal and finally destroyed by the Almohads. Their capital was Kairouan...
Dynasty (eleventh century) are characterized by inscriptions in black kufic writing with gold rim and the uprights of the letters end with lobed florets, all on a brown background adorned with simple floral patterns.
The boards painted under the Hafsid period (during the thirteenth century) offers a floral decor consists of white and blue arches entwined with lobed green. The latest, dated the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (mostly dating from the time of the Muradid Beys
Muradid Dynasty
The Muradid Dynasty was a dynasty which ruled over Tunisia from 1613 to 1705.-History:The dynasty was founded by Murad Bey, a janissary of Corsican origin. Ramdan Bey, ruler of Tunis, had sponsored the Corsican Murad since his youth. After Ramdan's death in 1613, Murad then followed his...
), are distinguished by an epigraphic decoration consists of long black and red text on green-olive to those painted from 1618 to 1619, under the reign of Murad I, Bey, while those back to the eighteenth century have inscriptions in naskhi white in an orange background.
Mihrab and minbar
The mihrabMihrab
A mihrab is semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla; that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying...
, which indicates the Qibla
Qibla
The Qiblah , also transliterated as Qibla, Kiblah or Kibla, is the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays during salah...
(direction of Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
), in front of which stands the imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
during the prayer, is located in the middle of the southern wall of the prayer hall. It is formed by a oven-shaped niche
Niche (architecture)
A niche in classical architecture is an exedra or an apse that has been reduced in size, retaining the half-dome heading usual for an apse. Nero's Domus Aurea was the first semi-private dwelling that possessed rooms that were given richly varied floor plans, shaped with niches and exedras;...
framed by two marble columns and topped by a painted wooden half-cupola. The niche of the mihrab is two meters long, 4.5 meters high and 1.6 meters deep.
The mosque's mihrab, whose decor is a remarkable witness of Muslim art in the early centuries of Islam, is distinguished by its harmonious composition and the quality of its ornaments. Considered as the oldest example of concave mihrab, it dates in its present state to 862-863 AD.
It is surrounded at its upper part by 139 lusterware
Lusterware
Lusterware or Lustreware is a type of pottery or porcelain with a metallic glaze that gives the effect of iridescence, produced by metallic oxides in an overglaze finish, which is given a second firing at a lower temperature in a "muffle kiln", reduction kiln, which excludes oxygen.The first use...
tiles (with a metallic sheen), each one is 21.1 centimeters square and they are arranged on the diagonal in a chessboard pattern. Divided into two groups, they are dated from the beginning of the second half of the ninth century but we don't know with certainty whether they were made in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
or in Kairouan by a Baghdadi artisan, the controversy over the origin of this precious collection agitates the specialists. These tiles are mainly decorated with floral and plant motifs (stylized flowers, palm leaves and asymmetrical leaves on bottom hatch and checkered) belong to two series : one polychrome characterized by a greater richness of tones ranging from light gold to light, dark or ocher yellow, and from brick-red to brown lacquer, the other monochrome is a beautiful luster that goes from smoked gold to green gold. The coating around them is decorated with blue plant motifs dating from the eighteenth century or the first half of the nineteenth century. The horseshoe arch of the mihrab, stilted and broken at the top, rest on two columns of red marble with yellow veins, which surmounted with Byzantine style capitals that carry two crossbeams carved with floral patterns, each one is decorated with a Kufic
Kufic
Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts and consists of a modified form of the old Nabataean script. Its name is derived from the city of Kufa, Iraq, although it was known in Mesopotamia at least 100 years before the foundation of Kufa. At the time of the emergence of...
inscription in relief.
The wall of the mihrab is covered with 28 panels of white marble, carved and pierced, which have a wide variety of plant and geometric patterns including the stylized grape leaf, the flower and the shell. Behind the openwork hint, there is an oldest niche on which several assumptions were formulated. If one refers to the story of Al-Bakri, an Andalusian historian and geographer of the eleventh century, it is the mihrab which would be done by Uqba Ibn Nafi, the founder of Kairouan, whereas Lucien Golvin shares the view that it is not an old mihrab but hardly a begun construction which may serve to support marble panels and either goes back to work of Ziadet Allah I (817-838) or to those of Ibrahim Abul around the years 862-863. Above the marble cladding, the mihrab niche is crowned with a half dome-shaped vault made of manchineel bentwood. Covered with a thick coating completely painted, the concavity of the arch is decorated with intertwined scrolls enveloping stylized five-lobed vine leaves, three-lobed florets and sharp clusters, all in yellow on midnight blue background.
Minbar
A minbar is a pulpit in the mosque where the imam stands to deliver sermons or in the Hussainia where the speaker sits and lectures the congregation...
, situated on the right of the mihrab, is used by the imam during the Friday or Eids
Eid ul-Fitr
Eid ul-Fitr, Eid al-Fitr, Id-ul-Fitr, or Id al-Fitr , often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting . Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity," while Fiṭr means "breaking the fast"...
sermons, is a staircase-shaped pulpit with an upper seat, reached by eleven steps, and measuring 3.93 meters length to 3.31 meters in height. Dated from the ninth century (about 862) and erected under the reign of the sixth Aghlabid ruler Abul Ibrahim (856-863), it is made in teak
Teak
Teak is the common name for the tropical hardwood tree species Tectona grandis and its wood products. Tectona grandis is native to south and southeast Asia, mainly India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, but is naturalized and cultivated in many countries, including those in Africa and the...
wood imported from India. Among all the pulpits of the Muslim world, it is certainly the oldest example of minbar still preserved today. Probably made by cabinetmakers of Kairouan (some researchers also refer to Baghdad), it consists of an assembly of more than 300 finely carved wood pieces with an exceptional ornamental wealth (vegetal and geometric patterns refer to the Umayyad and Abbasid models), among which about 90 rectangular panels carved with plenty of pine cones, thin and flexible stems, fruits lanceolate delicately chiselled surface and various geometric shapes (squares, diamonds, stars, etc.). The upper edge of the minbar ramp is decorated with a rich background that includes vegetation foliage wound alternating loops, each loop involves a fig leaf spread with a bunch of grapes hanging. In the early twentieth century, the Minbar had a painstaking restoration. Although more than eleven centuries of existence, all panels, with the exception of nine, are originals and are in a good state of conservation, the fineness of the execution of the minbar makes it a great masterpiece of Islamic wood carving referring to Paul Sebag. This old chair of the ninth century is still in its original location, next to the mihrab.
Maqsura
The maqsura, located near the minbar, a perimeter fence is a private enclosure that allows the sovereign and his senior officials to follow the solemn prayer of Friday without mingling with the faithful. Jewel of the art of woodwork produced during the reign of the Zirid prince Al-Muizz ibn BadisAl-Muizz ibn Badis
Al-Muizz ibn Badis ; 1008–1062) was the fourth ruler of the Zirids in Ifriqiya, reigning from 1016 to 1062.Al-Muizz ascended the throne as a minor following the death of his father Badis ibn Mansur, with his aunt acting as regent. In 1016 there was a bloody revolt in Ifriqiya in which the Fatimid...
and dated the first half of the eleventh century, it is considered the oldest still in place in the Islamic world. It is a cedar wood
Cedar wood
Cedar wood comes from several different trees that grow in different parts of the world, and may have different uses.* California incense-cedar, from Calocedrus decurrens, is the primary type of wood used for making pencils...
fence finely sculpted and carved on three sides with various geometric motifs measuring 2.8 meters tall, eight meters long and six meters wide. Its main adornment is a frieze that crowns calligraphy, the latter surmounted by a line of pointed openwork merlon
Merlon
In architecture, a merlon forms the solid part of an embattled parapet, sometimes pierced by embrasures. The space between two merlons is usually called a crenel, although those later designed and used for cannons were called embrasures.-Etymology:...
s, features an inscription in flowery kufic character carved on the background of interlacing plants. Carefully executed in relief, it represents one of the most beautiful epigraphic
Epigraphy
Epigraphy Epigraphy Epigraphy (from the , literally "on-writing", is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing; that is, the science of identifying the graphemes and of classifying their use as to cultural context and date, elucidating their meaning and assessing what conclusions can be...
bands of Islamic art.
The library is near located, accessible by a door which the jambs
Door jamb
A doorjamb is the vertical portion of the frame onto which a door is secured. The jamb bears the weight of the door through its hinges, and most types of door latches and deadbolts extend into a recess in the doorjamb when engaged, making the "true" and strength of the doorjambs vitally important...
and the lintel
Lintel (architecture)
A lintel can be a load-bearing building component, a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. It is often found over portals, doors, and windows.-Structural uses:...
are carved in marble, adorned with a frieze of floral decoration. The library window is marked by an elegant setting that has two columns flanking the opening, which is a horseshoe arch topped by six blind arches and crowned by a series of berms sawtooth.
Artworks
The Mosque of Uqba, one of the few religious buildings of Islam has remained intact almost all of its architectural and decorative elements, is due to the richness of its repertoire which is a veritable museumMuseum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
of Islamic decorative art and architecture. Most of the works on which rests the reputation of the mosque are still conserved in situ while a certain number of them have joined the collections of Raqqada National Museum of Islamic Art ; Raqqada is located about ten kilometers southwest of Kairouan.
From the library of the mosque comes a large collection of calligraphic scroll
Scroll
A scroll is a roll of parchment, papyrus, or paper, which has been drawn or written upon.Scroll may also refer to:*Scroll , the decoratively curved end of the pegbox of string instruments such as violins...
s and manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
s, the oldest dating back to the second half of the ninth century. This valuable collection, observed from the late nineteenth century by the French orientalists Octave Houdas and René Basset who mention in their report on their scientific mission in Tunisia published in the Journal of African correspondence in 1882, comprises according to the established inventory the time of Hafsid (circa 1293-1294) several Qur'ans and books of fiqh
Fiqh
Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....
that concern mainly the Maliki
Maliki
The ' madhhab is one of the schools of Fiqh or religious law within Sunni Islam. It is the second-largest of the four schools, followed by approximately 25% of Muslims, mostly in North Africa, West Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and in some parts of Saudi Arabia...
fiqh and its sources. These are the oldest fund of Maliki legal literature to have survived.
Among the finest works of this series, the blue pages of the Qur'an, currently exhibited at Raqqada National Museum of Islamic Art, from a famous Qur'an in the second half of the fourth century of the Hegira (the tenth century) most of which is preserved in Tunisia and the rest scattered in museums and private collections worldwide. Featuring kufic character sura
Sura
A sura is a division of the Qur'an, often referred to as a chapter. The term chapter is sometimes avoided, as the suras are of unequal length; the shortest sura has only three ayat while the longest contains 286 ayat...
s are written in gold on vellum
Vellum
Vellum is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on, to produce single pages, scrolls, codices or books. It is generally smooth and durable, although there are great variations depending on preparation, the quality of the skin and the type of animal used...
dyed with indigo
Indigo
Indigo is a color named after the purple dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria and related species. The color is placed on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nm in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet...
, they are distinguished by a compact graph with no marks for vowels. The beginning of each Surah is indicated by a band consisting of a golden stylized leafy foliage, dotted with red and blue, while the verses
Ayah
Ayah or Aayah is the Arabic word for sign or proof:"These are the Ayat of Allah, which We recite to you with truth...
are separated by silver rosettes. Other scrolls and calligraphic Qur'ans, as that known as the Hadinah's Qur'an, copied and illuminated by the calligrapher Ali ibn Ahmad al-Warraq for the governess of the Zirid prince Al-Muizz ibn Badis at about 1020 AD, were also in the library before being transferred to Raqqada museum. This collection is a unique source for studying the history and evolution of calligraphy of medieval manuscripts in the Maghreb, covering the period from the ninth to the eleventh century.
Other works of art such as the crowns of light (circular chandeliers) made in cast bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
, dating from the Fatimid
Fatimid
The Fatimid Islamic Caliphate or al-Fāṭimiyyūn was a Berber Shia Muslim caliphate first centered in Tunisia and later in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171.The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the...
-Zirid
Zirid
The Zirid dynasty were a Sanhadja Berber dynasty, originating in modern Algeria, initially on behalf of the Fatimids, for about two centuries, until weakened by the Banu Hilal and finally destroyed by the Almohads. Their capital was Kairouan...
period (around tenth-early eleventh century), originally belonged to the furniture of the mosque. These polycandelon, now scattered in various Tunisian museums including Raqqada consist of three chains, supporting a perforated brass plate, which has a central circular ring around which radiate 18 equidistant poles connected by many horseshoe arches and equipped for each of two landmarks flared. The three chains, connected by a suspension ring, are each fixed to the plate by an almond-shaped finial. The crowns of light are marked by Byzantine influence to which the Kairouanese artisan brought the specificities of Islamic decorative repertoire (geometric and floral motifs).
Role in Muslim civilization
At the time of its greatest splendor, between ninth and eleventh centuries, Kairouan is one of the greatest centers of Islamic civilization and its reputation as a hotbed of scholarship covers the entire Maghreb. During this period, the Great Mosque of Kairouan is both a place of prayer and a center for teaching Islamic sciences under the Maliki current. We can compare its role to that of the University of Paris during the Middle Ages.In addition to studies on the deepening of religious thought and Maliki jurisprudence
Jurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
, the mosque also hosts various courses in secular subjects such as mathematics, astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, medicine and botany
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
. The transmission of knowledge is assured by prominent scholars and theologians which include Sahnun ibn Sa'id
Sahnun
Sahnun ibn Sa'id ibn Habib at-Tanukhi was a jurist in the Maliki school from Qayrawan in modern-day Tunisia.-Biography:...
and Asad ibn al-Furat
Asad ibn al-Furat
Asad ibn al-Furat was a jurist and theologian in Ifriqiya, who began the Muslim conquest of Sicily.His family, originally from Harran in Mesopotamia, emigrated with him to Ifriqiya. Asad studied in Medina with Malik ibn Anas, the founder of the Malikite school, and in Kufa with a disciple of Abu...
, eminent jurists who contributed greatly to the dissemination of the Maliki thought, Ishaq ibn Imran and Ibn al-Jazzar
Ibn Al-Jazzar
Ahmed Ben Jaafar Ben Brahim Ibn Al Jazzar Al-Qayrawani , was an influential 10th-century Muslim physician who became famous for his writings on Islamic medicine. He was born in Qayrawan in modern-day Tunisia...
in medicine, Abu Sahl al-Kairouani and Abd al-Kindi al-Monim in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
. Thus the mosque, headquarters of a prestigious university with a large library containing a large number of scientific and theological works, was the most remarkable intellectual and cultural center in North Africa during the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries.
In English
- Néji Djelloul, 2000. Kairouan, the Great Mosque. Editions Contrastes.
- Paul Sebag, 1965. Great Mosque of Kairouan. New York Macmillan.
- John D. Hoag, 1987. Islamic architecture. Rizzoli.
- Jonathan M. Bloom, 2002. Early Islamic art and architecture. Ashgate.
- G. T. Rivoira, 2009, Moslem Architecture. Its Origins and Development. ASLAN PR.
In French
- Khaled Maoudoud, Kairouan : histoire de la ville et de ses monuments, éd. Agence de mise en valeur du patrimoine et de promotion culturelle, Tunis, 2000
- Henri Saladin, Tunis et Kairouan, Voyages à travers l'architecture, l'artisanat et les mœurs du début du XXe siècle, éd. Espace Diwan, 2002 (d'après l'édition de 1908)
- Noureddine Harrazi, Chapiteaux de la grande Mosquée de Kairouan, Volumes 1-2, éd. Institut national d'archéologie et d'art, 1982
- Kairouan, Capitale de l'Ifrikia, 670-1050, éd. Alyssa, 1992