Great Mosque of Samarra#Minaret

For a time, the mosque was the largest in the world; its minaret, the Malwiya Tower, is a spiralling cone {{convert|52|m}} high and {{convert|33|m}} wide with a spiral ramp.{{cite web |url=http://koran.topcities.com/Mosques/Mosques.htm |title=Historic Mosques site |archive-url=https://archive.today/20060710152230/http://koran.topcities.com/Mosques/Mosques.htm |archive-date=2006-07-10}}

File:Rare-pic-of-past-beautiful-in-Iraq-02 (cropped).jpg in the background]]

The reign of Al-Mutawakkil had a great effect on the appearance of the city, for he seemed to have been a lover of architecture, and the one responsible for building the Great Mosque of Samarra.{{cite book |last=Dennis |first=Sharp |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Architects and Architecture |year=1991 |publisher=Whitney Library of Design |location=New York |page=204}} Al-Mutawakkil and his hired workers as well as other people from the area constructed this mosque using baked brick octagon piers that included four marble columns in the corners. The marble columns were imported, which draws on the fact that Al-Mutawakkil hired artists and architects from all over the Abbasid empire to help him construct the Great Mosque.{{citation |last=Roxburgh |first=David |title=Architecture of Empire The Abbasids |year=2019}} In a list of his building projects which appears in several different versions, the new Congregational Mosque and up to twenty palaces are mentioned, totalling between 258 and 294 million dirhams. The new Congregational Mosque, with its spiral minaret, built between 849 (235 AH) and 851 (235 AH), formed part of an extension of the city to the east, extending into the old hunting park.{{Cite book|last=D. Hoag.|first=John|title=Islamic Architecture|publisher=Electra/Rizzoli}}

The mosque had 17 aisles, and its walls were paneled with mosaics of dark blue glass. It was part of an extension of Samarra eastwards. The art and architecture of the mosque were influential; stucco carvings within the mosque in floral and geometric designs represent early Islamic decoration. The Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, Egypt, was based on the Samarra Mosque in many regards and similarly stands in a large open space.{{citation |last=Behrens-Abouseif |first=Doris |title=Islamic architecture in Cairo: an introduction |publisher=American University in Cairo Press |year=2005 |pages=51–57}}

At the time of construction, another major feature of Samarra was the inlets of the great Nahrawan canal. This provided flood plains for a rich agricultural centre. Small and medium-sized game were also hunted in the area. This encompassed the main area of the city that held Islamic structures like the main palace and subsidiary palaces of the Waziri and the Umari as well as a large number of houses in a residential area. The Great Mosque was built right outside this main area and became a staple for the people of Samarra as well as visitors and foreigners. This project, along with others by Al-Mutawakkil, transformed the city of Samarra from a medium-sized centre into the enormous city seen today.

The mind behind the mosque, Al-Mutawakkil, was assassinated in 861, and structures like this mosque were then difficult to credit to a subsequent caliph. There was unrest and a ten-year period of trouble, including a civil war in 865–866. This Great Mosque was one of the last buildings with a known name attributed to it in this period.{{citation|last=Northedge|first=Alastair|title=Creswell, Herzfeld, and Samarra|year=1991|publisher=Brill}}

The mosque was destroyed in 1278 C.E. (656 A.H.), after Hulagu Khan's invasion of Iraq.

{{Update|part=section|date=June 2024|reason=Details needed on current state of conservation and any recent restoration works.}}

Only the mosque's outer wall and its minaret have been preserved.{{cite news |url=http://www.mehrnews.com/fa/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=539091 |title=مسجد سامرا ؛ برخوردار از مناره ای 53 متری و حلزونی شکل |language=fa |publisher=Mehr News Agency |access-date=27 March 2012}} The Iraqi State Organization of Antiquities have been working closely with historians and architects in a restoration process starting in 1956. They tasked people to restore various monuments in Samarra including the Great Mosque. There was extensive restoration done to both the courtyard of the mosque as well as the spiral minaret. Previously, only 6 steps remained in the minaret and very few complete arches surrounded the courtyard.{{citation |last=Tariq |first=Al-Janabi |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/124344.pdf | title=Islamic Archaeology in Iraq: Recent Excavations at Samarra. |year=1983 |issue=3 |journal=World Archaeology |volume=14 |pages=305–327|doi=10.1080/00438243.1983.9979871 |jstor=124344 }}

The minaret sustained further damage in 2005, when its top was destroyed by an explosion. According to some sources, Iraqi insurgents were responsible for the attack, following the tower's use as a sniper position by US forces.{{Cite web |title=Top of ancient Iraq minaret blown up |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2005/4/1/top-of-ancient-iraq-minaret-blown-up |access-date=2024-06-12 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Carroll |first=Rory |date=2005-04-02 |title=Iraqi insurgents blow top off historic monument |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/apr/02/iraq.rorycarroll |access-date=2024-06-12 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite news |date=2005-04-01 |title=Ancient minaret damaged in Iraq |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4401577.stm |access-date=2024-06-12 |language=en-GB}} In 2015, UNESCO and the Iraqi government announced a project to restore the minaret and assess damages to the rest of the Samarra archeological site,{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=UNESCO and Iraq launch project for conservation of World Heritage site of Samarra |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/1330/ |access-date=2024-06-12 |website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |language=en}} which was made a World Heritage Site in 2007.{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Samarra Archaeological City |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/276/ |access-date=2024-06-12 |website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |language=en}}

The mosque's main structure is encompassed by a baked brick wall on the outer edge including forty-four semi-circular towers supporting the structure. The outer wall includes twenty-eight windows. Twenty-four of them are facing the southeastern side, the qiblah. There is one window for each aisle, excluding the mihrab site. The building has a total of sixteen doors that provide access. The interior of the mosque presents a large courtyard surrounded by covered aisles on all sides.{{Cite book|last=Al-Amid|first=T.M.|title=Abbasid architecture of Samarra in the reign of both Al-Mu'tasim and Al-Mutawakkil|publisher=Al-Maʻaref Press|year=1873|location=Baghdad|pages=156–193}} The prayer hall featured a large mihrab framed as an arch. There was a fountain in the center of the courtyard that was covered and decorated in marble tile and mosaics. This fountain was believed to be carved from one large stone (called a kasat al-fir'awn or, the Pharaoh's Cup) and carried to this area by elephants. It was constructed by caliph al-Wathiq. The traditional mosque courtyard was square, however, the Great Mosque of Samarra portrayed a rectangular courtyard surrounded by these two layers of walls. It is known by historians and architects for the walls of the mosque to be covered in glazed or glass panels. These would be in the traditional blues, whites, and golds used in many other mosques. Fragments of these panels have been found by archaeologists working on the mosques. The interior of the mosque has ceilings with a height of 11 meters with a total of 464 pillars supporting this baked brick ceiling. For the most part the interior is plain and the focus was a strong foundation set by a continuous brick slab holding together these pillars.{{citation|title=The Great Mosque of Samarra, Architecture and Religion|date=18 May 2020|publisher=UKessays}}

File:Samaraa Grand Mosque Plan.png|Building plan of the mosque

File:Nation past.jpg|Side view of a wall

File:Samrraa 05.jpg|Minaret and mosque wall

File:001124-MalwiyaMosque-Samerra-IMG 7824-2.jpgAl-Minārat al-Malwiyyah ({{langx|ar|ٱلْمِنَارَة ٱلْمَلْوِيَّة}}, "The Twisted Minaret" or "The Snail Shell Minaret"){{cite book |last1=Kuban |first1=Doğan |year=1974 |chapter=The Development of Early Mosque Architecture |title=The Mosque and Its Early Development |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-TKu6nsFvaYC&pg=PA16 |location=Leiden, Netherlands |publisher=Brill |page=16|isbn=9004038132 }}{{cite book |last=Kleiner |first=Fred |year=2011 |chapter=The Islamic World |title=Gardner's Art through the Ages: Backpack Edition, Book 3 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pcoJAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA289 |location=Boston, the USA |publisher=CEngage Learning |page=289|isbn=9781133711209 }} was originally connected to the mosque by a bridge. The minaret or tower was constructed in 848–852 of sandstone, and is unique among other minarets because of its ascending spiral conical design. {{convert|52|m}} high and {{convert|33|m}} wide at the base, the spiral contains stairs reaching to the top.{{cite book |author1=Kleiner, Fred S. |author2=Christin J. Mamiya |title=Gardner's Art Through the Ages |edition=12th |publisher=Thomson Wadsworth |date=2005 }}

The height of the Malwiyyah made it practical to be used for the adhan (call to prayer). It is visible from a considerable distance in the area around Samarra and therefore may have been designed as a strong visual statement of the presence of Islam in the Tigris Valley.

The minaret's unique spiral design is said by some to be derived from the architecture of the Mesopotamian ziggurats.{{cite book |last=Henri |first=Stierlin |author-link=Henri Stierlin |title=Comprendre l'Architecture Universelle 2 |date=1977 |publisher=Office du Livre |location=Fribourg, Switzerland |page=347 |quote=Great mosque, Samarra, was built during the caliphate of al-Mutawakkil. It is the largest mosque in the world. Built entirely of brick within a wall flanked with towers, it has a 55 m high minaret with a spiral ramp that recalls the ziggurats of Mesopotamia}} This design, completed under al-Mutawakkil, was unlike other minarets created in this time or anything else seen in the Islamic world because of its base's shape. The Mesopotamian Ziggurats had a square base while this minaret and others built like it in Iraq have a circular base with a twisted spiral leading up to the top. Some consider the influence of the Pillar of Gor, which was also square not circular, built in the Sasanian Empire, more prominent.{{cite web|url=http://rch.ac.ir/article/Details?id=10224|title=The city of Samarra was built during the Mu'tokul Abbasid period|website=Rch.ac.ir|access-date=10 February 2019}} This style of spiraling minaret was then repeated by the caliph Abu Dulaf for his mosque (also in Samarra). These minarets become a focal point of the skyline in any city and are a call to attention and prayer.{{Citation|last=Roxburgh|first=David|title=Architecture of Empire The Abbasids|date=2019}} These earlier theories which proposed that these helicoidal minarets were inspired by ancient Mesopotamian ziggurats has been challenged and rejected by some modern scholars including Richard Ettinghausen, Oleg Grabar, and Jonathan Bloom.{{Cite book |last=Bloom |first=Jonathan M. |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three |publisher=Brill |year=2019 |isbn=9789004161658 |editor-last=Fleet |editor-first=Kate |location= |pages= |chapter=Minaret |editor-last2=Krämer |editor-first2=Gudrun |editor-last3=Matringe |editor-first3=Denis |editor-last4=Nawas |editor-first4=John |editor-last5=Rowson |editor-first5=Everett}}{{Cite book |last1=Ettinghausen |first1=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l1uWZAzN_VcC&pg=PP1 |title=Islamic Art and Architecture 650-1250: 2nd Edition |last2=Grabar |first2=Oleg |last3=Grabar |first3=Professor Emeritus of Islamic Art and Architecture Oleg |last4=Jenkins |first4=Marilyn |date=2003-07-11 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-08869-4 |language=en}}

The minaret's spiral shape inspired Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Philip Johnson's design for the 1976 Chapel of Thanksgiving at Thanks-Giving Square in Dallas, Texas, in the United States.{{cite web|url=http://www.thanksgiving.org/thanks-giving-square/visit/tour/|title=Self-Guided Tour|website=Thanksgiving.org|access-date=2016-11-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170526060458/http://www.thanksgiving.org/thanks-giving-square/visit/tour/|archive-date=2017-05-26|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.wrmea.org/010-november/travel-tips-thanks-giving-chapel-s-islamic-design-a-visual-spiritual-gem-in-downtown-dallas.html|title=Travel Tips: Thanks-Giving Chapel's Islamic Design a Visual, Spiritual Gem in Downtown Dallas|website=WRMEA|access-date=10 February 2019}}{{cite book|last=Schulze|first=Franz|author-link=Franz Schulze|title=Philip Johnson: Life and Work|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tAe2qWReLhAC&pg=PA334|year=1996|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-74058-4|page=334}} The minarets of a prominent Emirati mosque, that of Sheikh Khalifa in Al Ain, have been also been inspired by this minaret.{{cite news |last=Al Nuaimi |first=Rashid |title=Iconic Al Ain mosque work in final stages |publisher=Gulf Today |url=https://www.gulftoday.ae/news/2019/06/28/iconic-al-ain-mosque-work-in-final-stages |date=2019-06-28 |access-date=2019-07-24}} The influence of the minaret and courtyard of the mosque is seen in these places, as well as in modern mosques.

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{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{Cite book|date=2008|editor-last=Necipoğlu|editor-first=G.|title=Muqarnas, Volume 25 Frontiers of Islamic Art and Architecture: Essays in Celebration of Oleg Grabar's Eightieth Birthday|doi=10.1163/ej.9789004173279.i-396|isbn=9789004173279}}
• {{Cite web|url=https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/samarra-mosque.htm|title=Great Mosque of Samarra'|website=www.globalsecurity.org|access-date=2019-12-09}}
• {{Cite web|url=https://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/iraq05-060.html|title=Iraq Significant Site 060 - Samarra — Al-Mutawakkil Mosque & Minaret al-Malwiya|website=www.cemml.colostate.edu|access-date=2019-12-09|archive-date=2019-12-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209051033/https://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/iraq05-060.html|url-status=dead}}

{{commons category}}

• [http://www.islamicity.com/Culture/MOSQUES/Asia/TMp81a.htm The Great Mosque, Samarra, Iraq]
• {{cite web |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/276 |title=Samarra Archaeological City |work=World Heritage Site |publisher=UNESCO |date=2019 }}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060506063754/http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IS/SANDERS/PHOTOS/MESO/SAMARRA/samarra01.html Photo of The Great Mosque]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20051028010405/http://gallery.sjsu.edu/IslamicTutorial/Samarra/samara.html Photo and information]
• [http://www.dur.ac.uk/derek.kennet/mosque.htm Photos, floor plans, and information]
• [http://collections.si.edu/search/results.jsp?view=grid&dsort=&date.slider=&fq=place%3A%22Sa%5Cu0304marra%5Cu0304%27+%28Iraq%29%22&q=ernst+herzfeld+great+mosque+al-mutawakkil Ernst Herzfeld Papers, Series 7: Records of Samarra Expeditions, Great Mosque of al-Mutawakkil] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090724183631/http://collections.si.edu/search/results.jsp?view=grid |date=2009-07-24 }} Collections Search Center, S.I.R.I.S., Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
• [http://siris-archives.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!siarchives&uri=full=3100001~!289733~!0#focus Ernst Herzfeld Papers, Series 7: Records of Samarra Expeditions, 1906-1945] Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Washington, DC

{{Mosques in Iraq}}

Category:9th-century mosques

Great Samarra

Category:Abbasid architecture

Great Mosque

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Category:Religious buildings and structures completed in the 850s

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