Summary

This document provides a detailed historical overview of the Great Mosque of Aleppo. It discusses its architectural significance, its connections to historical figures like Emir Nur al-Din Zanki, and its resilience through various historical periods, including Roman, Byzantine, Umayyad, Abbasid, Hamdanid, Seljuk, Crusader, Ayyubid, and Mamluk eras. Key features, like the mihrab, are highlighted to illustrate the depth and richness of the mosque's history.

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Mosques in Aleppo The Great Mosque of Aleppo (The Umayyad Mosque) Built by the Umayyad Caliph Suleyman in 717 CE and altered several times, the Great Mosque of Aleppo remains one of the architectural masterpieces of the Muslim world. Its striking resemblance to the Umayyad Great Mosque of Damascus...

Mosques in Aleppo The Great Mosque of Aleppo (The Umayyad Mosque) Built by the Umayyad Caliph Suleyman in 717 CE and altered several times, the Great Mosque of Aleppo remains one of the architectural masterpieces of the Muslim world. Its striking resemblance to the Umayyad Great Mosque of Damascus in terms of plan and architectural forms is one of its key qualities, combined with religious merits emphasized by the presence of the remains of Prophet Zakariyah (peace be upon him) and historical significance expressed through its connection with Emir Nur Al-Din Zanki, the great Muslim commander who fought the crusaders relentlessly. Historical Introduction: Not long after the arrival of Islam to this once great Roman and Byzantine city its main Friday mosque was built. In 715 CE, ten years after the foundation of the Umayyad Mosque at Damascus, the Umayyad Caliph Suleyman engaged in the construction of the mosque that was to equal the former. Most scholars twinned Aleppo Mosque with that of Damascus sharing many common features. The central location on a Roman/Byzantine site, the hypostyle plan with large marbled courtyard surrounded by porticoes, the presence of the remains of Prophet Zakariyah in Aleppo and those of his son Yahiya (John the Baptist) in Damascus, in addition to the decorative scheme of mosaics (now lost) are some of these elements. However, unlike the Great Mosque of Damascus which preserved a good deal of its original features, Aleppo mosque was subject to successive adaptations and alterations which were often caused by deliberate fire or natural earthquakes. The first calamity to befall on the mosque was the arrival of the Abbasids, who blinded by their enmity and revenge against the Umayyads and their legacy, vandalized the mosque and stripped it from its carvings, mosaics and other art works which they transferred to their mosque in Al-Anbar in Iraq. However, other historians emphasized that it was the Byzantine emperor Nicephorus who when occupied Aleppo in 962 CE sent a wave of destruction through the city completely burning the mosque and destroying the mosaics. The Roman occupation was put to an end by the Hamdanids under the leadership of Emir Sayf Al-Dawlah. Under his rule, Aleppo regained its prosperity and from the little evidence we have which consists of the courtyard fountain and its dome, the Hamdanid renovation must have been of great magnificence. The Seljuks renovated the mosque at the end of the eleventh century and introduced the present minaret in 1090 CE. After this, crusaders arrived so the mosque was sacked, for example, in 564 AH when the Fatimids took the city, but the famous Emir Nur al Din who regained the city rebuilt it in 1158. A century later (679 AH/ 1280 CE), an Armenian king by the name of Sisse again conquered the city and burnt the mosque destroying most of the Ayyubid works sparing only the Seljuk minaret. The Mongol invasion was also brutal and once again the mosque was subject to destruction. The Mamluk Sultan Qalawun rebuilt it making many alterations to the original design. The Architecture of the Mosque: Despite the unfortunate events which destroyed the original Umayyad structure, the mosque remains one of the most renowned masterpieces of the Muslim world. This was confirmed by Ibn al-Shihna, Aleppo 's 15th-century historian, when he wrote: "The Great Mosque of Aleppo rivaled that of Damascus in its decoration, painting, and mosaic" Much of the mosque plan dates from Nur al-Din's complete reconstruction in 1158 who arranged it into a rectangle of about 150m x 100m with a large courtyard in its middle. Four gates were pierced into the four sides allowing access into the mosque through the courtyard, apart from the southern gate which connects straight to the prayer room. The prayer hall is a large arcaded room, three aisles deep running parallel to the qibla wall. The roof is raised by a total of eighty strong piers organized in four rows, mostly introduced by the Mamluk restoration. It was originally flat equipped with a central dome over the mihrab, but Qalawun's renovation replaced it with a cross-vaulted system. The beautiful mihrab made of yellow stone was pierced at the centre of the Qibla wall, adding greater holiness to the place. As with the Great Umayyad Mosque of Damascus, on the left of the mihrab is a maqsurah which holds the remains of Prophet Zakariah (pbuh). Historical sources showed that the skull of Prophet Zakariya was discovered in Baalbeck, then was transferred to Homs and finally settled in Aleppo at the end of the same year. At first it was buried in the city's castle but the fire which was caused by the Mongol invasion in1260 CE forced the rescue of the remains by reburying them in their present location in the Great Mosque. The maqsurah was built above them in the form of a square domed room raised by one step over the floor level of the prayer hall, and adorned with beautiful Kashan tiles which cover all the internal surfaces of its walls. Placed in the middle of the room, the tomb appears wrapped in luxurious robe decorated with silver embroideries containing Quranic verses from chapter of Mariyam (Mary pbuh). The robe was made by the order of the Ottoman Caliph Abdel Aziz Khan in 1874 CE (1291 AH). The room also contains a number of valuable objects including a very old manuscript of the Qur'an. The access to the maqsurah is made through a large arched gate supported on two robust columns topped with capitals adorned with muqarnas. The door is a huge screen made of bronze of golden colour. On the right side of the mihrab, there is a beautiful minbar (pulpit) that is thought to have been made by the master craftsman Mohammed Ibn Ali Al-Mausili for the Mamluk Sultan Qalawun who ordered it to be made especially for the mosque. It is a real masterpiece made from a local type of wood and decorated with geometrical carvings in the form of stars and five or six sided polygons. The rectangular courtyard holds many features of the Great Umayyad Mosque of Damascus, especially the surrounding heavy masonry arcades and the domed ablution fountains. Its fame is connected to the black and white stone paving organized in complex geometrical patterns. It is worth noting that the function of the courtyard in mosques plays a similar role to that in domestic buildings, as an important living space, with a constant stream of people coming in as much to relax in the arcades as to pray. At the northern corner stands the Minaret which was built in 1090 after the original one collapsed. It was the judge Abu Al-Hasan Mohammed who seeing the dilapidation of the original minaret decided to replace it. For this purpose he recruited a famous architect called Hasan Ibn Mufarraj. Historic sources report that in order to strengthen the foundations, the architect dug deep until he reached water, then set the foundation stones strengthening them with metal and lead brackets. On these robust foundations, he raised the minaret 45 meters high in six sections and with a staircase composing some 174 steps. To define the sections, Hasan introduced a set of mouldings and calligraphic bands of mixed Kufic and Nuskhi script. A number of trefoil (figure) and polyfoil arches were finely incised in the first three stages, becoming more elaborate in the following two sections above them. The Khusruwiyya Complex is situated to the southeast of the Citadel, facing its main entrance. It is the first Ottoman monument of the city. It was built under the patronage of the Hüsrev Pasha, while he was serving as the fourth vizier under Sultan Suleiman I. It is one of the early mosques by renowned court architect Sinan. The complex consists of a mosque and madrasa to the south and north of a courtyard centered on an ablution fountain, and a secondary madrasa to the west of the mosque. The ensemble is enclosed within precinct walls. The mosque is composed of a five-bay arcaded portico preceding a cubical prayer hall roofed with a low hemispherical dome. The portico is centered on the prayer hall but juts out by a single bay on each side, aligning itself with the two domed dervish lodges (tabhane) flanking the cube. Six monolithic marble columns with muqarnas capitals carry the portico arcade, which is raised on podiums on either side of the entry bay. Its arches are built with alternating voussoirs of black and white stones and its bays are roofed with identical small domes, with the exception of the slightly higher dome of the central bay. The portico façade is symmetrically laid out; it has four windows and two muqarnas mihrab niches carved into stone. Underglaze tiles adorn the tympana of the windows. At the center, the arched doorway of the prayer hall is built with joggled black and white stone voussoirs and set in a tall rectangular frame with a muqarnas crown. It is flanked on either side by engaged columns delicately carved with floral arabesques. There is a dedicatory inscription in Arabic above the doorway composed in nakshi script. The square prayer hall measures about two hundred and ninety square meters and is covered with a dome measuring eighteen meters in diameter. It rests on eight black and white arches that transition from the square walls to the circular drum with the help of muqarnas squinches (figure) placed at the four corners. Centered on the qibla wall, the mihrab has a double marble frame built largely of black stones and decorated with carved stone and polychrome stone inlays. A calligraphic band runs along the springer of the niche arch. The interior is lit with two lower casements topped with an arched window and two circular windows on each wall. There are also sixteen arched windows along the dome's base, which are accessible from a circular balcony decorated with a calligraphic band. Outside, the dome of the prayer hall is braced with eight flying buttresses and covered with lead tiles. A pencil-shaped minaret rises to the west side of the portico, adjacent to the dervish lodge. It has a façeted shaft interrupted by a balcony resting on muqarnas corbels and protected by a carved stone balustrade. Just below the balcony, the shaft is decorated with bands of blue and white tiles. The minaret terminates at a conical lead dome. The primary madrasa faces the mosque to the north and wraps around the courtyard to the northwest. The north wing has ten domed cells entered from a cross-vaulted arcade, and the northwest wing has a section covered by eight domes arranged in two rows of four, probably housing the kitchen and bakery. A secondary madrasa is placed to the west of the mosque and is composed of fourteen domed cells on three sides of a courtyard bound by the mosque wall to the east. A large domed classroom is accessed through the southern madrasa wing. To the south of the mosque is a small domed mausoleum where the wife's patron, son and nephew are buried. Altinbugha Mosque is located on the east wall of the city in the Sahhat al-Mileh district. It was built by Amir Ala al-Din Altinbugha in 1318 as inscribed on its west gate. The prayer hall (al-Haram) is enclosed by a stone dome with muqarnas. The mosque has one polygonal minaret. Al-Bahramiyya Mosque, located in the Jallum district in midst of the main bazaar area, was built by Ottoman Governor (Wali) Behram Pasha in 1580. It is designed in the takiyya style and differs from the other Ottoman mosques in that the qibla wall is indented to form an iwan which forms the space for the mihrab. The Mahmandar is the Sultan's chief chef. This mosque that was built by Hassan Ibn Balaban (Ibn al- Mahmandar), is unique because of its Mongol-style minaret. It went under major reconstruction in 1946 after it was destroyed in the earthquake of 1822. Al-Rumi Mosque is located in the Saffahiya district. It was formerly known as the Mankali Bagha Mosque after the Mamluk prince who funded its construction. It has a round minaret rarely seen in Aleppo mosques. Its mihrab resembles that at the al-Firdaws Madrasa. Qastal al-Harami Mosque is located in the Qastal al-Harami quarter. It was built around a stream of water that flows inside of the main facade. The mosque was renovated by the Mamluk prince Bardabek in 1490. All that remains now of the original structure is the facade, the stream, turbeh with the tomb of Bardabek and the minaret. Al-Omari mosque is located on the eastern end of the remains of Bahsita quarter, which was almost completely demolished as part of the Bab al-Faraj Development Project. It was constructed in 1328 during the reign of Sultan al-Nasser Mohammed. Its courtyard includes a small cemetery housing the tomb of Sheikh Hassan al-Maghribi. Al-Maydani mosque was built by Hussein son of Mohammed al-Halabi known as Ibn al-Midani. It is located in al-Almaji quarter. The current octagonal Mamluk minaret was assembled by Ibn Qanbar in the 16th century. The mosque contains the tomb of Sheikh Abdullah. Al-Saffahiyya Mosque, located in al-Saffahiyah district, was built by the judge Ahmed ibn al-Saffah in 1424. It was a madrasa before being converted into a mosque. The construction of Utrush Mosque was initiated in 1393 under the orders of Amir Aqbugha al-Jamali al- Utrush. The mosque is located behind the House of Government, south of the citadel. It is well known for its facade decoration, two doors and minaret. The prayer room is distinguished by its large yellow columns. The niche and minbar are made of marble. The tomb is a domed stone dome ornamented by muqarnas. The Adiliyah Mosque, located in the Saffahiyah district, was built by the Wali Mohammed Basha in 1556. The mosque has a main courtyard with a covered water pool. A double parallel colonnade creates the mediating space between the courtyard and the north side of the main prayer hall. The prayer hall is square in plan each side measuring 23m. The mosque has one cylindrical minaret built in the Ottoman style.

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