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The Great Mosque of Qairouan
Qairouan,
Tunisia, 820 to 836.
Style:
Islamic
The
Great Mosque at Qairouan, Tunisia, is the principal building of the
Aghlabids and has an important relationship to the mosques of the
Umayyad and Abbasid capitals. Its square minaret stands on the
center line of the building.
The original structure of the early
eighth century was swallowed up in the reconstruction of the ninth
century. More bays were added to the courtyard face of the
prayer-hall, and a central dome (since rebuilt) was constructed
over it. Also at this stage a superb luster Mihrab was
constructed— probably the earliest examples of its kind in
Islamic architecture. The luster-tiles appear to have been imported
from Iraq. The building has slightly pointed horseshoe arches
carried on Corinthianesque columns. The gored dome is carried on
cusped squinches.
The prayer-chamber has a T-shaped plan in which a
central nave intersects the principal transverse aisle against the
kibla [Qiblah] wall. The giant, tapering minaret with its recessed
stages as well as the incorrect southward orientation of the
building itself reflect its eighth-century Syrian origins.”
—Sir
Banister Fletcher. A History of Architecture. Pp. 564, 567.
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