Ksar Mosque

Mosque in Tunis, Tunisia
36°47′43″N 10°10′11″E / 36.79528°N 10.16972°E / 36.79528; 10.16972ArchitectureTypemosqueDate established12th century

Ksar Mosque or Jemaâ Al Ksar (Arabic: جامع القصر), also of the Hanafi rite, is a mosque in Tunis, Tunisia.

History

Located in front of Dar Hussein (Bab Menara), it was built in the early 12th century.[1] The mosque was originally built circa 1106 by Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, the leader of the Banu Khurasan who governed Tunis during this time. Near the mosque he also built a palace (qasr in Arabic).[2]

Around 1598, it was attached to the Hanafi legal school by the Ottoman conquerors.[citation needed] The mosque has been restored many times since its founding. Its minaret was added in the 17th century.[3]

  • Ksar Mosque in 1913
    Ksar Mosque in 1913

Structure

The mosque has had a lot of building work and renovation. The minaret was rebuilt in 1647/48,[4] and decorated with marble and terra cotta glazed in a Moorish style, and its eastern facade is decorated with big bows and horseshoes in the Fatimid style.

Access to the mosque is through a door under a covered walkway that opens into a courtyard elevated above the prayer hall. It is surrounded by a portico with columns and capitals such as Turkish Prayer Hall which is topped by arches supported by ancient columns and capitals. At the back of the hall, the mihrab, of remarkable size, is semicircular with seven niches separated by pilasters.[4] It is surmounted by a Fatimid style fluted half-dome.

  • El Ksar's mosque Mihrab
    El Ksar's mosque Mihrab
  • El Ksar mosque's facade
    El Ksar mosque's facade
  • Mosque El Ksar's minaret
    Mosque El Ksar's minaret
  • The mosque's arches
    The mosque's arches
  • Detail of the wall
    Detail of the wall
  • Building inscription on the minaret
    Building inscription on the minaret

References

  1. ^ "Lieux de culte Municipalité de Tunis" (in French). Government of Tunis. Archived from the original on 11 August 2009. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
  2. ^ Bloom, Jonathan M. (2020). Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700-1800. Yale University Press. p. 88. ISBN 9780300218701.
  3. ^ Bloom, Jonathan M. (2020). Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700-1800. Yale University Press. p. 88. ISBN 9780300218701.
  4. ^ a b "Mosquée al-Qasr". qantara-med.org (in French). Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2017.

Bibliography

  • Mohamed Masmoudi et Jamila Binous, Tunis. La ville et les monuments, Tunis, Cérès Productions, 1980, p. 80–81
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