The Sidi El Haloui Mosque (or Sidi el-Halwi Mosque) is a historic
mosque and religious complex in
Tlemcen,
Algeria.
History
The mosque is dedicated to Abou Abdallah Echoudsy, known as Sidi el Haloui, a ''
qadi'' from
Seville who came to Tlemcen in the late 13th century. He was later accused of sorcery, probably as part of a defamatory plot, and executed either in 1305
or 1337. Following the rehabilitation of his reputation, the
Marinid sultan
Abu Inan erected this religious complex next to his mausoleum in 1353 or 1354 (754
AH).
Architecture
The historical complex consists of a mosque, the tomb of Sidi el Haloui built next to it, and an
ablutions facility across the road.
The complex also formerly included a
madrasa and a
zawiya, but this has not survived.
The mausoleum is a modest structure.
The ablutions hall, still standing today, is covered by a central dome and contained
latrines.
The mosque's design is highly similar to the
Sidi Boumediene Mosque
Sidi Boumediene Mosque ( ar, مسجد شعيب أبو مدين) or the Worshipper's Mosque ( ar, مسجد العباد) is a historic Islamic religious complex In Tlemcen, Algeria, dedicated to the influential Sufi saint Abu Madyan. Abu Madyan was ...
, built by Abu Inan's father
Abu al-Hasan in the area of Tlemcen over a decade earlier.
It consists of a square courtyard (''
sahn'') with a central fountain and surrounded by an
arcaded
An arcade is a succession of contiguous arches, with each arch supported by a colonnade of columns or Pier (architecture), piers. Exterior arcades are designed to provide a sheltered walkway for pedestrians. The walkway may be lined with retail s ...
gallery (''
riwaq
Riwaq ( ar, رواق) or Centre for Architectural Conservation is a center for the preservation of architectural heritage on the West Bank in Palestine. The organization is based in Ramallah and owes its name mainly to a '' riwaq'', which is an ar ...
''), while on the south side of this is the prayer hall, a hypostyle hall divided by rows of pointed
horseshoe arches into five naves or aisles. Unlike the Sidi Boumediene Mosque, the arches are not supported by pillars but by onyx columns. The columns were most likely taken from the former Palace of Victory at
al-Mansourah, which was built by Abu al-Hasan. (Some of these columns are also found in the mausoleum of Sidi Boumediene, probably added by Abu Inan there around the same time.) In the middle of the southeast wall is 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 ...
'', a hexagonal niche covered by a small ''
muqarnas'' cupola. The mosque's
minaret
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 generall ...
, approximately 25 metres high, stands at the northwest corner and its façades are decorated by interlacing ''
sebka'' motifs. The rest of the mosque's original decoration, around the arches of the prayer hall and the outer entrance portal, has not been preserved.
References
{{Mosques in Algeria
14th-century mosques
Mosques in Tlemcen
Marinid architecture