The Kasbah Mosque () is a

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

Tangier Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, and the main mosque (

Friday 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''.See: * * * * ...

) of the historic royal citadel (

kasbah A kasbah (, also ; , , Maghrebi Arabic: ), also spelled qasbah, qasba, qasaba, or casbah, is a fortress, most commonly the citadel or fortified quarter of a city. It is also equivalent to the term in Spanish (), which is derived from the same ...

) in the old city (

medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

) of Tangier. It dates to the late 17th century.

History

The kasbah (citadel) of Tangier was built right after the city was evacuated by the English in 1684 and reclaimed by Morocco. The

sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

of Morocco,

Moulay Ismail Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif (, – 22 March 1727) was a Sultan of Morocco from 1672 to 1727, as the second ruler of the 'Alawi dynasty. He was the seventh son of Moulay Sharif and was governor of the province of Fez and the north of Morocco from ...

, supported the city's resettlement and commissioned its reconstruction, overseen by its new governor, Ali ibn Abdallah Errifi. As the English blew up the city's fortifications before leaving, the city's defenses had to be almost entirely rebuilt. One part of this reconstruction involved establishing the Moroccan government's seat of power in the city within a self-contained fortified district, the

(much as in other traditional Moroccan cities). This district had its own walls and included the Kasbah Palace with the governor's residence, a treasury, a courthouse, prisons, stables, residential quarters for the military, a parade ground or

mechouar Mechouar or meshwar (; ; ) is a type of location, typically a courtyard within a palace or a public square at the entrance of a palace, in the Maghreb (western North Africa) or in historic al-Andalus (present-day Spain and Portugal). It can serve ...

, and the mosque. The mosque of the kasbah of Tangier was thus built by Ali Errifi, under Moulay Ismail's reign in the late 17th century. Errifi was also responsible for rebuilding the city's Grand Mosque further south. The mosque was expanded by Errifi's grandson, Ahmed, who added its minaret and ornate entrance. Its prayer hall was expanded under Sultan Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman (Mohammed IV), who ruled between 1859 and 1873. It was restored around 1889 for the visit of Sultan Moulay Hassan I. In 1921, the official in charge of religious foundations (habous) in the region restored the mosque but covered up much of its original decoration in the process, using new colors. Some of this cover-up has been cleared in recent years during renovations that finished around 2015.

Description

The mosque is adjacent to the palace complex of the kasbah (now a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

), directly to its south. The mosque's interior is relatively plain, with white walls and rows of white Moorish arches (like many Moroccan mosques). It has a nearly plain ''

mihrab ''Mihrab'' (, ', 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'' wall". ...

'' (niche or arched alcove symbolizing the direction of prayer), and its small rectangular courtyard is not open to the sky but is roofed over. Its most distinguished elements are on the exterior. The entrance is on Ibn Abbou Street (an alley near the entrance to the museum/palace), sheltered under a small arched passageway covering the street at this point. The doorway, also shaped like a Moorish arch, is decorated with typical radiating geometric motifs whose empty spaces are filled with colorful ''zellij'' tilework. The minaret, rising above the entrance, is notable for having an octagonal shaft (instead of a square shaft like most Moroccan minarets) and for its decoration. Its facades are decorated with ornate blind arches, filled again with multicolored ''zellij'' tilework, and panels of ''

sebka ''Sebka'' () refers to a type of decorative motif used in western Islamic ("Moorish") architecture and Mudéjar architecture. History and description Various types of interlacing rhombus-like motifs are heavily featured on the surfaces of mi ...

'' geometric motifs.

References

External links

*
Jami' al-Qasba
' at ''ArchNet'' (includes further pictures) {{Mosques in Morocco Mosques in Tangier Tourist attractions in Tangier

History

Description

See also

References

External links