The Great Mosque of Mahdiya ( ar, الجامع الكبير في المهدية) is a mosque that was built in the tenth century in
Mahdia
Mahdia ( ar, المهدية ') is a Tunisian coastal city with 62,189 inhabitants, south of Monastir and southeast of Sousse.
Mahdia is a provincial centre north of Sfax
Sfax (; ar, صفاقس, Ṣafāqis ) is a city in Tunisia, located ...
, Tunisia. Located on the southern side of the peninsula on which the old city was located, construction of the mosque was initated in 916, when the city was founded by the
Fatimid
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dy ...
caliph
Abdallah al-Mahdi
Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh/ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn (), 873 – 4 March 934, better known by his regnal name al-Mahdi Billah, was the founder of the Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate, the only major Shi'a caliphate in Islamic history, and th ...
, to serve as the new city's
main mosque. Most of the Fatimid-era city and its structures have since disappeared. The current mosque was largely reconstructed by archeologists in the 1960s, with the exception of its preserved entrance façade.
History
In 912 the first
Fatimid
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dy ...
imam and
caliph
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
,
Abdallah al-Mahdi
Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh/ʿUbayd Allāh ibn al-Ḥusayn (), 873 – 4 March 934, better known by his regnal name al-Mahdi Billah, was the founder of the Isma'ili Fatimid Caliphate, the only major Shi'a caliphate in Islamic history, and th ...
, began looking for the site of a new capital for his newly-established state in
Ifriqiya
Ifriqiya ( '), also known as al-Maghrib al-Adna ( ar, المغرب الأدنى), was a medieval historical region comprising today's Tunisia and eastern Algeria, and Tripolitania (today's western Libya). It included all of what had previously ...
.
A site was chosen along the coast and construction of the new fortified palace city,
al-Mahdiyya (Mahdia), began in 916. Construction of the Great Mosque, which served as the new city's
congregational mosque
A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as ''jumu'ah''.*
*
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*
...
, began that same year.
The new city was officially inaugurated on 20 February 921, though construction continued after this.
The new capital was probably chosen to place some distance between the
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
population of
Kairouan
Kairouan (, ), also spelled El Qayrawān or Kairwan ( ar, ٱلْقَيْرَوَان, al-Qayrawān , aeb, script=Latn, Qeirwān ), is the capital of the Kairouan Governorate in Tunisia and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was founded by th ...
(the traditional capital of Ifriqiya), and the Fatimid Caliphs, who were
Isma'ili
Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sa ...
Shi'as
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, most n ...
, so as to avoid raising tensions with the local population and to provide a more secure political and military base.
The mosque was originally clad in marble, but much of this was removed during episodes when it was reduced to ruins and later rebuilt. It is possible that the
Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
n church of
San Sisto Saint Sixtus (or San Sisto in Italian) may refer to the following:
People
*Pope Sixtus I (d. 128)
*Pope Sixtus II (d. 258), martyr
*Pope Sixtus III (d. 440)
*Sixtus of Reims (d.c. 300), first bishop of Reims
Places Italy
*San Sisto, Piacenza, chu ...
was built using marble that had been stripped from the mosque. The city of Mahdia underwent a period of relative abandon between 948, when the Fatimids to a new capital at al-Mansuriyya, and 1057, when the Zirid dynasty (successors to Fatimid rule), moved the capital back to Mahdia.
In the 11th century the original qibla wall was destroyed by sea erosion and had to be rebuilt to the north, thus reducing the size of the prayer hall.
This work was probably done during the new Zirid occupation. A
mihrab
Mihrab ( ar, محراب, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "qibla w ...
(symbolic niche in the qibla wall), documented by archaeologist
Georges Marçais
Georges Marçais ( Rennes, 11 March 1876 – Paris, 20 May 1962) was a French orientalist, historian, and scholar of Islamic art and architecture who specialized in the architecture of North Africa.
Biography
He initially trained as a painter ...
in a 1954 publication, was probably built during this period as well.
In the late 11th century the prayer hall was extended northwards at the expense of the courtyard, resulting in the original southern portico of the courtyard being superseded by a newer construction of lesser quality. This extension of the prayer hall may have been motivated by the city's growing population during this period. It may also have been related to the
1087 raid and sack of the city by a
Pisan
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
-
Genoese fleet, which could have necessitated repairs to the mosque.
In 1550
Mahdia was captured by the forces of
Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infan ...
, who occupied it for several years, then destroyed its walls and withdrew. As the mosque shared some of its walls with the defensive walls of the city itself, it would have likely been heavily damaged as a result. Probably because of this, the prayer hall was mostly demolished and a new prayer hall, of small size and crude construction, was subsequently built in the middle of the mosque's courtyard, while the old prayer hall was briefly used as a cemetery.
The mosque underwent further modifications and restorations prior to the 20th century,
including a restoration by the
Tunisian prime minister
Yusuf Sahib at-Taba' circa 1798.
Between 1961 and 1965 the mosque was completely renovated by the French architect and archaeologist Alexandre Lézine. The monumental access gate and
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. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
in the north were preserved from the original structure, while the rest was reconstructed according to what archeologists believe was the original Fatimid form of the building.
Architecture
Exterior and courtyard
The building consists of a large irregular quadrilateral, about .
It was built on an artificial platform "reclaimed from the sea" as mentioned by the
Andalusi The Arabic '' nisbah'' (attributive title) Al-Andalusi denotes an origin from Al-Andalus. Al-Andalusi may refer to:
* Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati
* Ibn Hazm
* Ibn Juzayy
* Ibn 'Atiyya
* Said Al-Andalusi
* Yaʿīsh ibn Ibrāhīm al-Umawī
See also
* A ...
geographer
Al-Bakri
Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn ʿAmr al-Bakrī ( ar, أبو عبيد عبد الله بن عبد العزيز بن محمد بن أيوب بن عمرو البكري), or simply al-Bakrī (c. 1040–1 ...
. The platform was necessary to provide a flat surface on the otherwise irregular terrain of the city's peninsula.
The south side of the mosque, which houses the mihrab, is slightly longer than the north side. Seen from the exterior, the mosque looks like a fortress because of its massive stone walls without openings except in the façade.
The two projecting bastions at the front corners of the mosque were once thought to be the bases of former
minarets
A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گلدسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally ...
, but were actually above-ground
cisterns
A cistern (Middle English ', from Latin ', from ', "box", from Greek ', "basket") is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by t ...
for collecting rainwater from the roof, stored for usage during
ablutions.
It is likely that, at least for some time, they were fed by the
aqueduct that served al-Mahdi's palace from underground sources at Miyyanish, from the city.
The mosque originally had no minaret. The first tower-minarets were an innovation recently introduced under the
Abbasid Caliphs
The Abbasid caliphs were the holders of the Islamic title of caliph who were members of the Abbasid dynasty, a branch of the Quraysh tribe descended from the uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib.
The family came t ...
, whose authority the Fatimids rejected. For these reasons, the early Fatimids rejected this architectural feature in their mosques. The
call to prayer
A call to prayer is a summons for participants of a faith to attend a group worship or to begin a required set of prayers. The call is one of the earliest forms of telecommunication, communicating to people across great distances. All religions ...
would have most likely been given from the doorway or the roof of the mosque, according to a tradition going back to
'Ali
Ali is a common unisex name.
In Arabic, Ali is derived from the Arabic root ʕ-l-w, which literally means "high", "elevated" or "champion", and is used as both a given name and surname. Islamic traditional use of the name goes back to the Isla ...
and favored by Shi'a Muslims at the time.
The main entrance, located in the center of the north wall, is a monumental portal projecting outward and rising taller than the surrounding structure. Its design and appearance is most likely derived from that of Roman
triumphal arches
A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crow ...
in the region, like the Arch of Antoninus Pius at
Sbeitla
Sbeitla or Sufetula ( ber, Sbitla or Seftula, ar, سبيطلة ') is a small town in west-central Tunisia. Nearby are the Byzantine ruins of Sufetula, containing the best preserved Byzantine forum temples in Tunisia. It was the entry point of the ...
(Sufetula).
The entrance is through a wide semi-circular
horseshoe arch
The horseshoe arch (; Spanish: "arco de herradura"), also called the Moorish arch and the keyhole arch, is an emblematic arch of Islamic architecture, especially Moorish architecture. Horseshoe arches can take rounded, pointed or lobed form.
His ...
in the center, on either side of which are decorative niches: on the lower part of the façade the niches are shallow
blind arches of horseshoe shape, while on the upper part they are deeper mihrab-like niches.
Along the top is a narrow
entablature
An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...
. This entablature could have once contained an Arabic inscription, which may have been erased at a later period, but no evidence of any inscriptions from the original mosque has been preserved.
Inside is a large courtyard surrounded by porticos or
arcades (
''riwaq''s) on all four sides, an arrangement typical of mosques in the region. The northern portico consists of an arcade resting stone pillars and preceding a gallery covered by
groin vaults
A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. Honour, H. and J. Fleming, (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: Lau ...
. This section is attributed to the 11th century.
There are some similarities between the straight-
arris
In architecture, an arris is the sharp edge formed by the intersection of two surfaces, such as the corner of a masonry unit; the edge of a timber in timber framing; the junction between two planes of plaster or any intersection of divergent a ...
design of the groin vaults of the northern portico and the groin vaults at
Cluny
Cluny () is a commune in the eastern French department of Saône-et-Loire, in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is northwest of Mâcon.
The town grew up around the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny, founded by Duke William I of Aquitaine in 9 ...
,
Autun
Autun () is a subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of central-eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the early Roman Empire by Emperor Augustus as Augustodunum to give a Ro ...
,
Monte Cassino
Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, west of Cassino and at an elevation of . Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first h ...
and
Sant'Angelo in Formis
Sant'Angelo in Formis is an abbey in the municipality of Capua in southern Italy. The church, dedicated to St Michael the Archangel, lies on the western slopes of Monte Tifata.
History
The church was once referred to as ''ad arcum Dianae'' ("ne ...
which could be due to
Burgundian influence. The other reconstructed arcades have arches on
Corinthian column
The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...
s.
File:EntreeGrandeMosqueMahdia.JPG, Front view of the mosque
File:Porte Grande Mosquée El Mehdi Mahdia.JPG, Entrance portal
File:Tunisia230.jpg, Inside one of the cisterns at the corners of the mosque
File:CourGrandeMosqueMahdia.JPG, Courtyard of the mosque, looking north towards the entrance
File:Grande Mosquée de Mahdia 021.jpg, Courtyard of the mosque, looking south towards the prayer hall
File:Tunisia234.jpg, The vaulted space of the courtyard's northern portico
Prayer hall
The great
hypostyle
In architecture, a hypostyle () hall has a roof which is supported by columns.
Etymology
The term ''hypostyle'' comes from the ancient Greek ὑπόστυλος ''hypóstȳlos'' meaning "under columns" (where ὑπό ''hypó'' means below or un ...
hall, dotted with Corinthian columns, consists of nine aisles perpendicular to the
qibla
The qibla ( ar, قِبْلَة, links=no, lit=direction, translit=qiblah) is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the s ...
and four bays. The aisles are separated by rows of arches resting, for the most part, on twin columns.
The central nave, higher and wider than the others, is flanked by a row of thick twin arches, supported by groups of four columns instead of the twin columns used in the aisles. The central nave thus defines an axis within the hypostyle structure that leads to the
mihrab
Mihrab ( ar, محراب, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "qibla w ...
. The intersection with a transept or transverse aisle, of equal magnitude and parallel to the qibla wall, results in a T-shaped plan, an architectural feature whose central point is the intersection of transept and nave in front of the mihrab niche.
As this part of the original mosque had collapsed and disappeared long ago, this aspect of the layout relies partly on the conjecture of the archeologists who reconstructed it.
As it was reconstructed recently, nothing remains of the prayer hall's original decoration.
Open to the axis of the nave through a horseshoe arch, the central area is defined by pillars and half-pillars in angles and bundles, formed of groups of columns, on which rests a hemispherical dome. It is an octagonal
tholobate
In architecture, a tholobate (from el, θολοβάτης, tholobates, dome pedestal) or drum 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.
In the earlier Byzanti ...
pierced with 24 windows. The load is carried by
pendentive
In architecture, a pendentive is a constructional device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or of an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to points ...
s. A band of black marble decorated with inscriptions from the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
marks the transition between the two complex structural forms. The mihrab, made of white stone, has the shape of a horseshoe and is supported by two columns of dark green marble. The sculptural decoration inside the mihrab consists of two levels separated by a band of white marble carved with
Qur'anic verses in
Kufic
Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It ...
characters. The lower level has nine vertical grooves ending in shell-shapes at their upper ends, above which are decorations of clover in high relief. Above the white marble band, the curving grooves converge at a single point at the top of the arch.
File:Tunisia229.jpg, Entrance to the prayer hall
File:Tunisia222.jpg, Central nave of the prayer hall
File:Tunisia223.jpg, Interior showing twinned columns
File:Tunisia228-2012-07-09.jpg, The mihrab
File:Tunisia227.jpg, Minbar
A minbar (; sometimes romanized as ''mimber'') is a pulpit in a mosque where the imam (leader of prayers) stands to deliver sermons (, ''khutbah''). It is also used in other similar contexts, such as in a Hussainiya where the speaker sits and le ...
(pulpit)
File:Tunisia226.jpg, Dome in front of the mihrab
Influences
As a whole, the layout of the Great Mosque of Mahdiyya is closely related to that of the earlier (9th century)
Great Mosque of Kairouan
The Great Mosque of Kairouan ( ar, جامع القيروان الأكبر), also known as the Mosque of Uqba (), is a mosque situated in the UNESCO World Heritage town of Kairouan, Tunisia and is one of the most impressive and largest Islamic mo ...
, with its courtyard surrounded by arcades and the "T-plan" layout of its hypostyle prayer hall. The major exception to this resemblance is the lack of a monumental minaret.
Among later Fatimid mosques, the
al-Hakim Mosque
The Mosque of al-Hakim ( ar, مسجد الحاكم بأمر الله, Masjid al-Ḥākim bi Amr Allāh), nicknamed al-Anwar ( ar, الانور, lit=the Illuminated), is a historic mosque in Cairo, Egypt. It is named after Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (9 ...
in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
, started in 990 and completed between 1003 and 1013, borrows from the Mahdiya mosque's design, with its projecting entrance and the wider and taller central aisle leading to the mihrab.
The
al-Azhar
Al-Azhar Mosque ( ar, الجامع الأزهر, al-Jāmiʿ al-ʾAzhar, lit=The Resplendent Congregational Mosque, arz, جامع الأزهر, Gāmiʿ el-ʾazhar), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the historic ...
mosque in Cairo also seems to have had a similar projecting entrance. The Fatimid mosque at
Ajdabiya
Ajdabiya ( ; ar, أجدابيا, Aǧdābiyā) is a town in and capital of the Al Wahat District in northeastern Libya. It is some south of Benghazi. From 2001 to 2007 it was part of and capital of the Ajdabiya District. The town is divided into ...
in Libya had a similar plan, although it did not have the same monumental entrance. Like it, for the same ideological reasons, the Ajdabiya mosque did not have a minaret. The mosque built by the Mamluk sultan
Baibars
Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari ( ar, الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري, ''al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī'') (1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), of Turkic Kipchak ...
in 1266-1269 in Cairo has some external similarities to the Mahdiya mosque, with its long wall, corner buttresses and projecting gates.
Notes and references
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{Mosques in Tunisia
Mosques in Tunisia
Mosque buildings with domes
Mahdiya
Mahdia ( ar, المهدية ') is a Tunisian coastal city with 62,189 inhabitants, south of Monastir, Tunisia, Monastir and southeast of Sousse.
Mahdia is a provincial centre north of Sfax. It is important for the associated fish-processing indu ...
Buildings and structures in Mahdia
Fatimid architecture in Tunisia