Great Mosque of Fes el-Jdid
Great Mosque of Fes el-Jdid | |
---|---|
الجامع الكبير (Arabic) ⵎⴻⵣⴳⵉⴷⴰ ⴰⵎⵇⵔⴰⵏ (Berber) | |
Founder | Abu Yusuf Yaqub |
Date established | 1276 |
Specifications | |
Minaret(s) | 1 |
Minaret height | (approx.) 29 m |
Materials | brick, wood |
The Great Mosque of Fes el-Jdid is the historic main
History
The mosque was founded around 1276 by the Marinid sultan
In 1320 Sultan Abu Sa'id built a madrasa near the mosque, known as the Madrasa Fes Jdid or Madrasa Dar al-Makhzen, however it was never able to compete with the prestige of the madrasas in Fes el-Bali and was later absorbed by the expanding Royal Palace.[1]: 69 [7]: 114 Sultan Abu Inan is believed to have been buried in a tomb adjoining the mosque upon his death in 1358, although this is not fully confirmed.[3][2] Abu Inan's burial here marked a shift in the choice of burial sites of the Marinid sultans. Up to that point they had been buried in the necropolis of Chellah but after this they were buried instead on the al-Qula Hill north of Fes (whose ruins are now known as the Marinid Tombs).[8] The Rawd al-Qirtas, a 14h-century chronicle, mentions that one of the sons of Abu Yaqub Yusuf, named Abu Muhammad 'Abd al-Mu'min, was buried in a courtyard on the south side of the mosque in 1293. This suggests that a funerary site developed around the mosque early on.[9]
A foundation inscription in the mosque, carved in stone also records that it was "completed" by Sultan Abu Faris Abd al-Aziz II in 1395.[3][2][8] This leaves the chronology of the current mosque's construction open to interpretation.[9] The building's floor plan is very regular, which suggests it was not significantly altered or rebuilt, and that its construction was not interrupted and then completed at a later date.[3][2][9] Georges Marçais, a scholar of North African Islamic architecture, argued that the 1395 inscription refers to an embellishment or restoration of the mosque, not to its construction or reconstruction, and that this work mostly affected the mosque's decoration. In his view, the decoration around the mihrab is too evolved to be attributed as early as the 13th century and the attached tomb of Abu Inan still dates in its current form to the mid-14th century, which would be consistent with the hypothesis that the mosque was built before the mid-14th century and redecorated in the late 14th century.[2]
There is evidence that the mosque was also significantly restored in the later
Architecture
The mosque's overall layout reflects the "T-plan" that became standard in western (Maghrebi) mosques in the Almohad period.[3][4] The building has a rectangular floor plan, measuring about 54 by 34 meters and covering about 2000 square meters.[3][4] The layout includes a vast hypostyle interior prayer space and a large rectangular courtyard (sahn) occupying most of the northern part of the building.
The entrances
The mosque's main entrance is to the north, aligned with the mihrab (see below) at the opposite end of the building and leading into the courtyard.[3] The entrance is doubled: to the left (east) of the main gate is another gate. This resembles the arrangement of the double northern gate of the Qarawiyyin Mosque (named Bab al-Ward and Bab al-Hafa), whereby one gate featured a water channel which allowed visitors to wash their feet as they entered, while the other gate was a regular entrance.[3][2][9] However, it seems likely that in this case the second gate was designed to give direct access to a walled-in gallery section in the northeastern corner of the courtyard which was reserved for women coming to pray.[2][4]
The mosque also had two gates on its eastern side and two more on its western side; on both sides, one gate led into the courtyard and another directly into the prayer hall to the south. On the eastern side of the mosque, the courtyard gate was at some point blocked off by the later construction of houses next to the mosque. Perhaps because of this, the remaining gate was also turned into a double gate with two doorways side by side.[3]
The southern wall of the mihrab also has several doorways that lead to an annex space used by the
The courtyard (sahn)
The main courtyard (sahn) occupied roughly the northern half of the mosque, measuring 24 by 18.6 meters.[3]: 39 Like in other mosques, it has a central water bassin (formerly linked to two other fountains on either side) and is surrounded by arched galleries.[3] The floor is paved with mosaic tiles (zellij).[3] The central arch on the south side of the courtyard, which leads into the central "nave" of the prayer hall on the axis of the mihrab, is framed by a tall and ornate portal.[3] The spaces around the arch are decorated with carved stucco and crowned by a carved and painted wooden canopy, which likely date from the 16th or 17th century during the later 'Alawi period.[9] The arch itself is occupied by an ornate wooden screen known as an anaza; an outdoor or "summer" mihrab for those prayers taking place in the courtyard.[10][3] The anaza has two doors, between which, in the middle, is a decorative composition with a mihrab shape containing a carved inscription in Arabic calligraphy.[3] This feature is reminiscent of an equivalent creation added by the Marinids to the courtyard of the Qarawiyyin Mosque.[10] The current anaza here, however, dates from 1678–1679 CE (1089 AH), during the reign of Sultan Moulay Isma'il. Art historian Xavier Salmon suggests that Moulay Isma'il likely donated the anaza at the same time as he restored or added some of the mosque's decoration, although the latter may also date from his brother and predecessor, Moulay Rashid (ruled 1666–1672).[9] By comparison, the inner archway of the central northern gate into the courtyard (directly opposite the anaza), has stucco decoration which seems to preserve more of a Marinid style.[9]
The prayer hall
Like other standard Moroccan mosques, the prayer hall is a vast interior hypostyle space split only by rows of arches running perpendicular to the southern wall, except for an extra row of arches running close to the southern wall and parallel to it.[3] The southern wall is also the qibla wall (the direction of prayer), and is marked by a mihrab (niche symbolizing the qibla) in the middle. Of the aisles between the rows of arches, the center one, aligned with the mihrab, is slightly wider than the others and is emphasized with added stucco decoration on the walls between the arches.[3][2]
The mihrab itself is an alcove in the wall, inside of which is a small cupola of
The wooden ceiling and other decoration in the rest of the central aisle leading to the mihrab dates from the 'Alawi period.[9] At the northern end of the central aisle, just behind the anaza, is an elaborately ornate ribbed dome, similar to the slightly earlier examples of this type found in front of the mihrabs of the Great Mosque of Taza and the Great Mosque of Tlemcen, ultimately deriving from the domes of the Great Mosque of Cordoba.[3][2][4] The 24 intersecting ribs of the dome form a star pattern, at the middle of which is a mini-cupola of muqarnas. Between the ribs are rich arabesques carved in stucco which also form a screen allowing some light in from the outside.[3] The corners of the dome transition into the square space of the walls with the help of muqarnas-carved squinches.[3] Although Georges Marçais dated it to the Marinid period, Xavier Salmon has questioned this, based on inconsistencies in the cupola's decoration, and suggests that it was either created or restored during the 'Alawi period, possibly by Moulay Isma'il (who also commissioned the nearby anaza) or by Moulay Rashid.[9]
The mosque's main chandelier, according to one source, was installed in 1280, weighs 715 pounds, and has 287 candlesticks.[5] It hangs in the central aisle in front of the mihrab, and is considered by some to be one of the best Marinid-era examples of its kind.[3][5]
The library and mausoleum
On the mosque's western side, near its southwestern corner, is a rectangular chamber which is raised above the rest of the mosque and reached via a short staircase from the prayer hall. The chamber has a large arched window looking back into the prayer hall.
On the south side of this library, at the far southwestern corner of the mosque, is another annex composed of a rectangular chamber which leads to a square chamber with a dome.[3][2] This domed chamber in turn once led to what appears to have been a tomb chamber located under the library, but which was later walled-up and was only reopened during renovations in 1950.[3][11] The domed chamber is richly decorated with carved stucco and with zellij tile mosaic along its lower walls, and the dome has muqarnas squinches.[3] The dome is articulated by 24 intersecting ribs that form a twelve-sided polygon. It has rich carved plaster decoration. When it was observed by Alfred Bel in 1917, it still retained some of its former painted colours in blue and red, but it has since been heavily coated with whitewash, which obscures some of its craftsmanship.[9] The small rectangular room preceding it holds four tombs and contains only fragments of its original decoration. This room is also open to the outside of the mosque via an archway window or door.[3]
The tombs in this area are carved with Qur'anic verses but some of them do not have any other identifying inscriptions, which has made it difficult to confirm the individuals buried here. In particular, one of the tombs (possibly in the walled-up chamber under the library) is assumed to belong to Sultan
The minaret
The
The four facades of the minaret are decorated similarly with
Adjoining the southern base of the minaret, above the gallery of the courtyard, is a chamber for the muezzin which was likely added after the minaret's original construction.[3] Seen from the courtyard, this chamber is marked by a double-arched window, with an alabaster column between the arches, overshadowed by a carved wooden awning.[3] It was similar in form and purpose to a Dar al-Muwaqqit (such as the one also added to the Qarawiyyin Mosque shortly after[12]: 62 ).[10]
Madrasa of Fes el-Jdid
In 1320 Sultan
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e 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.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Marçais, Georges (1954). L'architecture musulmane d'Occident. Paris: Arts et métiers graphiques. pp. 268–271.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq Maslow, Boris (1937). Les mosquées de Fès et du nord du Maroc. Paris: Éditions d'art et d'histoire. pp. 38–53.
- ^ a b c d e Kubisch, Natascha (2011). "Maghreb - Architecture" in Hattstein, Markus and Delius, Peter (eds.) Islam: Art and Architecture. h.f.ullmann.
- ^ a b c d e f g Bressolette, Henri; Delaroziere, Jean (1983). "Fès-Jdid de sa fondation en 1276 au milieu du XXe siècle". Hespéris-Tamuda: 245–318.
- ^ Terrasse, Henri (1964). "La mosquée almohade de Bou Jeloud à Fès". Al-Andalus. 29 (2): 355–363.
- ^ ISBN 2723301591.
- ^ ISBN 9782350314907.
- ^ ISBN 9782359063356.
- ^ a b c Terrasse, Henri (1968). La Mosquée al-Qaraouiyin à Fès; avec une étude de Gaston Deverdun sur les inscriptions historiques de la mosquée. Paris: Librairie C. Klincksieck.
- ^ ISBN 978-2343090221.
- ^ Terrasse, Henri (1968). La Mosquée al-Qaraouiyin à Fès; avec une étude de Gaston Deverdun sur les inscriptions historiques de la mosquée. Paris: Librairie C. Klincksieck.
- ^ Terrasse, Henri (1962). "La médersa mérinide de Fès Jdid". Al-Andalus. 29: 246–253.
External links
- Manar al-Athar Digital Photo Archive (includes some pictures inside the mosque)
- Jami al-Djedid at ArchNet (includes a couple of historic pictures of the mosque, including of the courtyard)