Mosques
p. 343-346
Texte intégral
1Several studies have already been carried out on the mosques of Nablus, particularly on the historical aspect.1 Therefore, we will only deal here with some of the points not covered in previous publications, based on an examination of the plans of the eleven mosques of the old town (fig. 22), at the same scale. This will allow a comparison of their spatial and constructional make up, their distribution in the town and their size.
Figure 22 – Comparative map of the mosques in the old center, scale 1:1000.
2With the exception of the al‑Masakîn Mosque, installed in a former Crusader hospital of the 12th century and having inherited a low barrel vault, and the al‑Nasr Mosque, of recent construction and covered by a reinforced concrete dome, all the mosques in the town are covered by cross vaults resting on stone pillars or marble columns, often recovered from ancient Roman or Byzantine monuments. The prayer halls are rectangular in shape and consist of rows of pillars parallel to the qibla wall. They are therefore hypostyle mosques, but they differ in two respects. Firstly, the mosques of Nablus are not what can be called courtyard mosques in the typological sense of the term, in the manner of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, the Ibn‑Tulun Mosque in Cairo, or the Great Mosque of Kairouan, whose porticoed courtyards are an integral part of an overall composition combining the courtyard and the prayer hall. The mosques of al-Nasr, al‑Hanbalî, al-Khadra, al‑Khadr and al‑ʿUmarî do not have courtyards. The other mosques, including the Great Mosque, had a courtyard outlined only by a wall without a peripheral portico. These courtyards have been reduced or disappeared over the years according to the expansion needs of the mosques.
3The second point concerns the type of covering: the pillars or columns of the hypostyle halls support arcades on which rest beams carrying the terrace or the roof, and are thus built in a succession of rows parallel to the qibla, whereas the cross vaults covering the mosques of Nablus determine two orthogonal directions of equal value and define the hall as a succession of centred units. This difference in composition is reflected in the atmosphere of each type and defines two very specific moods. The lightness of the ceilings of the hypostyle halls, produced by a separating out of the planes, by the capitals and the tie rods holding the columns, and by the set of beams resting on the top of the arcades, is in direct contrast with the feeling of massive power given by the succession of stone cross vaults of the Nablus mosques.
4This construction system, a cross vault resting on four pillars or four walls, is found in almost all the buildings of the town, the ahwâsh and palaces, the soap factories and khans, and also in some of the changing rooms of the hammams. It also comes out from the buildings by settling in the streets covered by qantaras, thus conferring on the town a very great architectural unity. As regards the architecture of the mosques, it is important to note its very strong identity and the permanence of its spatial and building structure from the 12th to the end of the 19th century, where, for example, the influence of the domed mosques characteristic of the Ottoman period is totally absent.
5There are four large mosques with prayer halls of between 300 m2 and 1000 m2 in the central part of the town, and six small mosques of between 30 m2 and 150 m2 serving the outlying areas.
Mosques in the centre
6The al‑Salahî al‑Kabîr Mosque is exceptionally large for Nablus: the prayer hall, with an area of approximately 1000 m2, is 61 m long and its width varies from 15 to 17 m. It occupies a plot of land at the junction of the Souk and al‑Nasr Streets (ill. 13). It is bordered on the north and east by a row of shops interrupted only by a few metres at the two entrances. The difference in geometry between the rectangle of the prayer hall and the angle formed by the lanes leaves a residual area of 230 m2, which forms only a small courtyard with a fountain. The prayer hall is a magnificent hall with three rows of fourteen cross vaults delimited by double arches and supported by pillars or columns. The great simplicity of the hall is in sharp contrast with the variety of details in the treatment of the capitals, the random arrangement of the pillars and single or double columns, and the presence of a small dome marking the bay of the mihrab.
7Going from east to west, one comes next to the al-Nasr Mosque, whose 700 m2 prayer hall, overlooking al‑Manâra Square, is located on the upper floor, freeing the ground floor for commercial activity, then the al‑Bayk Mosque, where the current floor-plan shows three phases of construction. To the south there is a hall with nine compartments, the centre of which is delimited by four square pillars and covered by a dome; to the east a small structure of four cross vaults is taken up in its centre by a column surmounted by a Corinthian-type capital; and to the north, two rows of four cross vaults almost completely occupy the former courtyard of the mosque. The last mosque in the centre, the al‑Hanbalî Mosque, gives up its entire façade on the street of the souk to commerce. The prayer hall, of great simplicity, is composed of three rows of six cross vaults resting on marble columns with magnificent Corinthian capitals.
Peripheral mosques
8The al-Khadr Mosque, frequented by the inhabitants of the al‑Gharb district, is limited to a square prayer hall of about 10 m per side. Covered by four cross vaults resting on a column in the centre, it is flanked by a minaret that clearly marks the western entrance to the town (ill. 4). On the opposite side of the town, the small al‑ʿUmarî Mosque is located to the east in the al‑Qaysariyya district. Its prayer room is an ordinary room of 5 m–6 m on each side, and it is only the presence of a mihrab and the usage that differentiate it from an ordinary hosh room.
9To the north-east, in the al‑Habâla quarter, the mosque of al‑Anbîyâʾ takes its name and reputation from a tomb that oral tradition describes as being that of the children of Jacob. It is an enclosure contained by a wall and bounded on the south by the prayer hall, a simple portico opening onto the courtyard. The courtyard has almost completely disappeared under the successive extensions of the mosque. To the south, the al‑Satun and al‑Tînâ Mosques are located in the al‑Yasmîna and al‑Qâryoun districts respectively. These are ancient mosques whose courtyards have been progressively filled in by the various extensions.
10The al‑Khadra Mosque is located to the south-west, in a large garden, far from any houses, and was known for the sessions held there by the dervishes. The prayer hall is a long room covered by three cross vaults. Detached from the mosque is a powerful square minaret on which the Ten Commandments of God can be read in Samaritan characters. There used to be a Samaritan synagogue here, which was destroyed and rebuilt several times before the mosque was built in the 13th century.
Illustration 13 – East entrance to the al-Salahî al-Kabîr Mosque.
Notes de bas de page
1 Nasser Arafat has made an extensive study of the history and architecture of the mosques in Nablus: Arafat 2012. A brief description of the mosques of Nablus was made by Father J.A. Jaussen in 1924, his interest being more focused on religious facts.
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