Kasbah
A kasbah (
Citadel or fortress
The term qasaba was historically flexible but it essentially denotes a fortress, commonly a citadel that protects a city or settlement area, or that serves as the administrative center.[7]: 228 [8]: 122 [9]: 282 [4] A kasbah citadel typically housed the military garrison and other privileged buildings such as a palace, along with other amenities such as a mosque and a hammam (bathhouse).[8]: 147 [9]: 135 Some kasbahs are built in a strategic elevated position overlooking the city, like the Kasbah of the Oudayas in Rabat, Morocco, or the Alcazaba of Málaga in Spain.[9]: 135 [7] It could also be a large purpose-built royal quarter, protected by its own set of walls, that housed the palace of the ruler and the administration of the state. Examples of this include the Kasbah of Marrakesh and the Kasbah of Tunis, both founded by the Almohads, who built or redeveloped similar palace enclosures in many important cities of their empire.[9]: 141 [10][8]: 195–197 In some cases, kasbahs could be simple fortified enclosures around a city that housed military garrisons, without being the main citadel. In Fez, for example, there were up to 13 kasbahs built throughout the city in different periods, including the Kasbah an-Nouar and the Kasbah Cherarda.[11][12]
According to architect and restorer Leopoldo Torres Balbás, the Alcazaba of Málaga is the prototype of military architecture in the Taifa period in Al-Andalus, with its double wall and many fortifications. Its only parallel is the castle of Krak des Chevaliers in Syria.[13] Examples of other alcazabas in Spain include the Alcazaba of Almería, the Alcazaba of Antequera, the Alcazaba of Badajoz, the Alcazaba of Guadix, the Alcazaba of Mérida, the Castle of Molina de Aragón, the Alcazaba of Alcalá la Real and in the Alcazaba of the Alhambra in Granada.
In Morocco, the term "kasbah" is also used in predominantly Amazigh regions to denote a fortified residence (tighremt in Amazigh languages), often built of mudbrick, such as the Kasbah of Telouet or the Kasbah Amridil.[14][15] In southern Tunisia, the term is sometimes applied to some fortified granaries (also known as ksour).[16]
Other uses of the term
rewrite it to present the subject from an encyclopedic point of view. (December 2022) |
Old city
The word kasbah may also be used to describe the old part of a city, in which case it has the same meaning as a medina quarter. In Algiers, the name qasaba originally referred to the upper part of the city which contained the citadel and residence of the rulers.[17] Following the French conquest of the country in 1830, most of the historic lower town of Algiers was demolished and remodeled along European lines. The only part of the old city that remained relatively untouched was the upper town, thus known as the "Casbah" of Algiers.[17][9]: 237 The Casbah of Dellys is another example of the term being used for an old city.
Watchtowers in the Arabian Peninsula
In the
"Most of the qasabas have a circular plan, although some are square. Sometimes they have a band of
See also
- Ribat
- "Rock the Casbah" – popular 1982 song by The Clash which features the word "Casbah"
References
- ISBN 9781134613663.
Central part of a town or citadel.
- ISBN 9780300218701.
qaṣba: also qaṣaba, casbah, kasba(h); fortress
- ^ Barnaby Rogerson (2000): Marrakesh, Fez, Rabat, p. 65: "as its purpose, for a kasbah should be the domain of a ruler, be he sultan, governor or just a tribal chieftain. Most of the ancient cities of Morocco retain a large portion of their outer walls, but the kasbah (the government citadel containing [...]"
- ^ ISBN 3822896322.
Sing. burdj, hisn, qal'a, qulay'a, qarya, qasaba. These Arabic terms for the highly varied forms of fortified settlement with or without an administrative centre can be found in Spanish placenames even now, most frequently al-qal'a and its diminutive alqual'aya: Alcala de Henares, Alcala la Real, Calahorra, Alcolea del Cinca. (...) Alcazaba: Spanish, from the Arabic al-quasaba [sic], fortress, fortified, fortified town, also administrative centre.
- ISBN 0870996371.
- ISBN 9780195309911.
- ^ ISBN 3822896322.
- ^ ISBN 9780190624552.
- ^ ISBN 9780300218701.
- ISBN 9783902782199.
- ^ Le Tourneau, Roger (1949). Fès avant le protectorat: étude économique et sociale d'une ville de l'occident musulman. Casablanca: Société Marocaine de Librairie et d'Édition.
- ^ "نفائس فاس العتيقة : بناء 13 قصبة لأغراض عسكرية | جريدة الصباح". assabah.ma (in Arabic). 2014-07-24. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
- ^ Dialnet.es, Fanny de Carranza Sell, La alcazaba de Málaga. Historia a través de su imagen, 2011. (In Spanish)
- ^ Ingeborg Lehmann, Rita Henss (2012): Morocco Baedeker Guide, p. 214: "KASBAH A mud-brick castle that serves as a residence for the local Berber tribe is called a kasbah or »tighremt« in Morocco. Some are private mansions, others are even whole fortified villages with many large and small buildings crowded on [...]"
- ISBN 9782352700579.
- ISSN 1015-7344.
- ^ ISSN 1873-9830.
- ^ The New Encyclopædia Britannica (1998): "Asir". 15th ed., vol. 1, "Micropedia", p. 635.
- ^ a b Mostyn, Trevor (1983): Saudi Arabia: A MEED Practical Guide. London: Middle East Economic Digest, 2nd ed., p. 320.
- ^ Covington, Richard (2011): "Roads of Arabia". Saudi Aramco World, March/April 2011, pp. 24–35.
- ^ "Marble Village of Dhee Ayn".