Al-Bakiriyya Mosque [1] ( Arabic. مسجد قبة النكيرية ; English Qubbat al-Bakiriyya ) is located in the eastern part of the capital of Yemen, Sanaa al-Kadima (Old City). Al-Bakiriyya Mosque was built by the Ottoman Turks in 1597 during the first occupation of Yemen and the short Ottoman-Zeydite truce. Ottoman Wali Hassan Pasha Arnavut ordered the construction of this Hanifit mosque in order to perpetuate the inviolability of Ottoman rule in South Arabia . According to another version, the mosque was built as a tribute to one of the friends of Pasha , who was buried next to the mosque. [2]
| Mosque | |
| Al-Bakiriyya Mosque | |
|---|---|
| Arab. مسجد قبة النكيرية English Qubbat al-Bakiriyya | |
 Al-Bakiriyya Mosque in 1926. | |
| A country |  Yemen |
| City | Sanaa |
| Address | Al Kadima District |
| Coordinates | |
| Current, school | Sunni |
| Architectural style | A mixture of Ottoman and Yemeni styles. |
| Construction initiators | Ottoman Wali Hassan Pasha Arnavut |
| Building | 1597 |
| condition | acting |
It is an interesting mixture of elements of national architecture and Turkish style. [3] Al-Bakiriyya Mosque belongs to the so-called counter-type mosques, widespread in Yemen . However, al-Bakiriyya is an example of classical Ottoman architecture - large in size for Yemeni architecture and small for Ottoman mosques. [2] Its domes are made in the Turkish style, and the minaret is built in Yemeni traditions.
The entrance to the territory of the mosque’s courtyard is located in the western part (from the side of al-Lakiyah Street) and is carried out through a small convex portal in the western wall, decorated along the perimeter of the top with teeth with a traditional shape for Yemen . [2]
On the same side of the mosque, to the left and right of the entrance, there are two tombs, almost outwardly copying the shape of the building of the mosque itself. [2]
In the south, to the right of the entrance, in the courtyard there is a four-domed rectangular bathing room. Nearby, on the east side there is a small pool (hidden behind the arcature and the room). [2]
In parallel to the eastern part of the courtyard there is a narrow covered corridor with arcature leading to the minaret . To the left and right of the minaret (behind the arcade ) there are three rooms, two of which can be entered from the eastern outside. These two buildings are missing from the schemes of Ronald Leucock, and they were allegedly completed after 1983 . [2]
In contrast to the mosque, the al-Bakiriyi minaret, in form and decor, is fully consistent with the style of the San Minarets . [2]
The main distinguishing feature of al-Bakiriyya is the large hemispherical dome above the prayer hall - a feature that was unknown in Yemen before the Ottoman occupation. The dome rests on an octagonal frieze- shaped drum . [2]
Four cylindrical towers, similar in shape to the tops of some Sanaa minarets , are located at the four corners of the building at the frieze level, but these towers are also a characteristic feature of Ottoman mosques. [2]
The room of the mosque consists of a large prayer hall, which is preceded by a three-domed portico with two columns . The sails and the interior of the portico's domes are richly decorated with a gypsum geometric pattern and sayings from the Koran. Three more domes are located perpendicular to the portico and at the same level with it - above the interior in the eastern part of the mosque (a small nave and a fenced tomb ). [2]
Unlike the Yemeni mosques, here in the prayer hall there are no load-bearing columns and a wooden coffered ceiling. The dome is supported by arch-vaulted sails, in the center of which are the so-called brightly decorated mukarnassa (honeycomb arch). mukarnassa is also used as the main decoration of mihrab . The mural of the room creates the effect of volume, although plumbed gypsum carvings are present only in the decoration of windows and doors. [2]
Additional lighting enters the mosque through the windows in the drum of the dome. At the moment, a modern gilded chandelier is used. A garland of antique oil lamps now plays only a decorative function. [2]
In 1872, during the second Ottoman conquest , the mosque underwent restoration and significant changes, including the elevation of the sofa in the prayer hall and marble decoration of the mihrab and the minbar . At the moment, the sofa is used as a place of prayer for women for whom there was no place in this mosque before. [2]
A large dome over the prayer hall, turrets, an octagonal frieze and some elements of the interior decor were later used in the construction of the mosques Talha (1620-1621) and Al-Mahdi (1750-1751). [2]
Notes
- ↑ Sana / E. S. Yakushkina (architecture), M.I. Klyuchnikov (education, culture, economics) // Romania - Saint-Jean-de-Luz. - M .: Big Russian Encyclopedia, 2015 .-- S. 307-308. - (The Big Russian Encyclopedia : [in 35 vols.] / Ch. Ed. Yu. S. Osipov ; 2004—2017, vol. 29). - ISBN 978-5-85270-366-8 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Moiseyev Anna “Architecture of Yemen. Al-Bakiriya Mosque in Sana'a. ” , Yemen Club. Information portal about Yemen. (2007).
- ↑ Sights of Sana'a. What to see and where to go in Sana'a. ” (2008-2011).
See also photos of the mosque.
Literature
- Ronald Lewcock. The Old Walled City of San'a '. Paris: UNESCO. 1986.
- Barbara Finster. An Outline of the History of Islamic Religious Architecture in Yemen. In Muqarnas IX: An Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture. Oleg Grabar (ed.). Leiden: EJ Brill. 1992
- Sana'a. The principles of architectural urban planning of different Muslim eras. Sana, Attaher Engineering Consultancy Center, 2005. In Arabic.
- G. M. Udalova. Yemen during the first Ottoman conquest (1538-1635). M., 1988.