Sidi Boumediene Mosque ( ar, مسجد شعيب أبو مدين) or the Worshipper's Mosque ( ar, مسجد العباد) is a historic

Islamic Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ma ...

religious complex In

Tlemcen Tlemcen (; ar, تلمسان, translit=Tilimsān) is the second-largest city in northwestern Algeria after Oran, and capital of the Tlemcen Province. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it exports through the p ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, dedicated to the influential

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

saint

Abu Madyan Abu Madyan Shuʿayb ibn al-Husayn al-Ansari al-Andalusi ( ar, ابو مدين شعيب بن الحسين الأنصاري الأندلسي; c. 1126 – 1198 CE), commonly known as Abū Madyan, was an influential Andalusian mystic and a great Su ...

. Abu Madyan was hailed from

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...

and contributed greatly to the spread of ''

tasawwuf Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

'' in the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

region.

History

The mosque was founded by the

Marinid The Marinid Sultanate was a Berber Muslim empire from the mid-13th to the 15th century which controlled present-day Morocco and, intermittently, other parts of North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and of the southern Iberian Peninsula (Spain) ar ...

rulers of Morocco in 1339. The madrasa was founded eight years after the mosque, where

Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun (; ar, أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي, ; 27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732-808 AH) was an Arab The Historical Muhammad', Irving M. Zeitlin, (Polity Press, 2007), p. 21; "It is, of ...

had taught once.Madrasa Sidi Abu Madyan
''Archnet''. Retrieved January 7, 2018. Dar al-Sultan palace was established as well in the lower point of the complex, where the

sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) 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 c ...

s stayed during their visit to the mosque.Dar al-Sultan
''Archnet''. Retrieved January 9, 2018. The Sidi al-Haloui Mosque, built in 1353, was closely modelled on it.

Architecture

The complex contains several religious buildings including the

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

, mausoleum,

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

and the

hamam A hammam ( ar, حمّام, translit=ḥammām, tr, hamam) or Turkish bath is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited ...

. The mosque has the main entrance resembling that of the several other

Moorish architecture Moorish architecture is a style within Islamic architecture which developed in the western Islamic world, including al-Andalus (on the Iberian Peninsula, Iberian peninsula) and what is now Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia (part of the Maghreb). The ...

s from Córdoba to

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 t ...

. The entrance leads to the gallery of plaster paintings. On top of the dome exists

muqarnas Muqarnas ( ar, مقرنص; fa, مقرنس), also known in Iranian architecture as Ahoopāy ( fa, آهوپای) and in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe, is a form of ornamented vaulting in Islamic architecture. It is the archetypal form of I ...

. It continues to the stairs which resemble that of the

Puerta del Sol, Toledo Puerta del Sol is a city gate of Toledo, Spain, built in the late 14th century by the Knights Hospitaller. The medallion above the arch of the gate depicts the ordination of the Visigothic Ildephonsus Ildefonsus or Ildephonsus (rarely ''Ildep ...

. The wooden doors are decorated with bronze, and they lead to the

sahn A ''sahn'' ( ar, صَحْن, '), is a courtyard in Islamic architecture, especially the formal courtyard of a mosque. Most traditional mosques have a large central ''sahn'', which is surrounded by a '' riwaq'' or arcade on all sides. In traditi ...

with the fountain in the middle and surrounded by corridors and prayer hall.

Gallery

File:Porte mosquee Sidi Boumediene Tlemcen.jpg, Main entrance File:Minaret de Sidi Boumedienne.jpg, Minaret of the mosque File:Bild från familjen von Hallwyls resa genom Algeriet och Tunisien, 1889-1890 - Hallwylska museet - 92051.tif, Prayer hall, 1889-1890 File:Bild ur Johanna Kempes samling från resan till Algeriet och Tunisien, 1889-1890. "Tlemcen - Hallwylska museet - 91840.tif, Overview, 1889-1890 File:Mosquée Sidi Boumediene en 1886.jpg, The mosque, painted by

Fritz von Dardel Fritz Ludvig von Dardel (24 March 1817 – 27 May 1901) was a Swedish diarist, illustrator and early comics artist. He was a courtier, and is known for his diary and illustrations depicting the life of the Swedish court in the mid-19th century ...

in 1886

References

Bibliography

*Georges Marçais, L’architecture musulmane d’occident, Tunisie, Algérie, Espagne et Sicile, Paris, Arts et Métiers Graphiques, 1954, p.276 *Georges Marçais, Les villes d'art célèbres. Tlemcen, éd. du Tell, Blida, 2003, rééd. de l'ouvrage paru en 1950 à la Librairie Renouard (Paris) {{Mosques in Algeria 14th-century mosques Mosques in Tlemcen Marinid architecture

History

Architecture

Gallery

See also

References

Bibliography