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7 1Meriem Benkhedda [email protected] Color on Ceramics in the Medieval 2Kheira Tabet Aoul [email protected] Architecture of Tlemcen, Algeria: [corresponding author] 1Département d’Architecture, Light, Ambiance and Symbolism Université des Sciences et de la Technologie d’Oran Mohamed Boudiaf, USTO-MB, Oran, Algeria ABSTRACT 2 Department of Architectural Engineering, College of Engineering, United Arab The architectural heritage of the Marinid and Ziyanid dynasties in the region of Emirates University, POBox Tlemcen (Algeria) is characterized by geometric and floral shapes of the ornamental 15551, Al Ain, United Arab ceramic of particularly rich polychromic expressions. This ornamentation defines Emirates the minarets, porches, interior courtyards and patios. The ceramic colors in different tones and arrangements provide spaces with an exceptional quality that highly characterizes this medieval Arab architecture. The polychromic compositions of the ceramic with their intrinsic spatial and aesthetical value remain largely unexplored. This research attempts to explore first, an untapped ancestral know-how or “savoir- faire” and second, to demonstrate that this architectural heritage has a colorful atmosphere, whose evolution is linked to the relationship between shapes, lights, materials and colors as well as its socio-cultural context. The investigation method consists of a survey of colors on ceramics and an analysis of arrangement patterns between colors and geometry (relationship and mixtures of colors) to determine the rhythms, harmonies of figures and background, optical compositions, and finally determine the color language and agreements that result. Color properties, the subtle combination of colors and materials interacting with an exquisite geometry display a decisive influence on the appearance and the ambiance that emerge, providing brightness and light, creating rhythm, motley and fusion in a web of optical effects, filled with symbolism, suitable for the cultural and religious circumstances of the place. KEYWORDS Color, Ceramic, Marinid, Architecture, Ambiance, Tlemcen, Algeria. Received 15 September 2017; Revised 07 June 2018; Accepted 30 November 2018 CITATION: Benkhedda M. and Tabet Aoul K. (2018) ‘Color on Ceramics in the Medieval Architecture of Tlemcen, Algeria: Light, Ambiance and Symbolism’, Cultura e Scienza del Colore - Color Culture and Science Journal, 10, pp. 07-12, DOI: 10.23738/ccsj.i102018.01 Meriem Benkhedda is an architect and PhD candidate and is currently teaching plastic and graphic art in the Architectural Program at the University of Science and Technology of Oran, Algeria. She specializes in color theory and application in the built environment in general with a focus on Islamic Architectural heritage in the Maghreb Kheira Tabet Aoul is a Professor of Architecture at the United Arab Emirates University, UAE. She draws from over 25 years of international academic and professional experience in Algeria, USA and the Middle East. Her research focuses on green buildings, sustainable heritage conservation and human factors in the built environment. Cultura e Scienza del Colore - Color Culture and Science | 10 | 2018 ISSN 2384-9568 8 DOI: 10.23738/ccsj.102018.01 Benkhedda M. and Tabet Aoul K. 1. INTRODUCTION be luxuriously adorned immediately evoking the taste of the Muslim aristocracy” (Clévenot & Degorge, The northwestern part of Algeria and in particular 2000, p.96). the region of Tlemcen is one of the few places The geometry of the patterns and the fractals of in Algeria that still has major representative this important heritage have been widely studied. monuments of Arabic art. The region of Tlemcen Comparatively, little has been done in terms of in western Algeria displays an art that truly the study of color design and arrangements. reflects the splendor of the Arab civilization The objective of this work is to fill this gap. In through its successive dynasties. Its proximity the present study, the analysis is restricted to to Morocco and Spain explains the presence a single monument where the polychrome of of many relics and monuments of Islamic art its different pieces is explored. The relatively from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, well-preserved architectural ensemble of Sidi contemporary of those found in Granada and Boumediene was selected for this study as Fez. Its architecture attests of a thriving arts the polychrome ceramics is widely used. Other production. “One should be pleased to admire what relevant monuments, such as the Madrasa remains of the great royal city and jealously preserve Tachfiniya have been completely destroyed its admirable remains” (Marçais & Marçais, 1903, (Kouma & Nafa, 2003), only remain statements p.10). made by earlier French architects of historical The city of Tlemcen owes its embellishments monuments, or some ceramics exhibited in the to its successive dynasties; the Almoravids, the Museum Tlemcen. Almohads, the Zianides and most particularly The investigation methodology of the present the Marinids (Bourouiba, 1981). Tlemcen’s study is based on a chromatic analysis of monuments, which span from the thirteenth the arrangements of colors and their derived to the middle of the fourteenth centuries, psychological and symbolic meanings. are contemporary to the great monuments conceptions. of Granada in Spain. They form a group of building sassociated with a period of full 2. SIDI BOUMEDIENE COMPOUND development of the Andalusian architectural style. During their quarter-century long reign The Sidi Boumediene compound, located in over the city, the Marinids endowed Tlemcen the neighborhood of El Eubbad in the city of of its most beautiful monuments, including Tlemcen, was built in honor of Abu Choaïb Sidi Boumediene compound, the Sidi’l-Halwi Madyane (Boumediene) El Andaloussi, a teacher, mosque, and the entire city of El-Mansourah, writer and poet and pole of the Sufism doctrine of which, unfortunately only the main mosque’s in Algeria and the Maghreb. The architectural minaret remains. ensemble includes the Sidi Boumediene One of the elements that established the refined mosque, built in 1339 (739 AH) by the Marinid ornamentation of such buildings is the scenery Sultan, Abu Hassan Ali. It also includes the flat polychrome inlaid glazed pottery called tomb of Saint Sidi Boumediene located nearby, mosaic of faience, accompanied by stucco and and a Madrasa (religious school) built in 1347 wood decoration. Comparatively, the Zianides (Bourouiba, 1981). dynasty produced Sidi Belahcen Mosque, the It is the flourishing ornamentation, mainly flat Mechouar Mosque, Palace, and a school, the ceramic décor that makes this building stand out Madrassa Taschfiniya. Zianides’ architecture as a remarkable heritage. Indeed, the entrance is adorned with ceramic and polychrome to the mosque is made from a monumental earthenware mosaics. The main sections of porch, with a seven-meter high horseshoe arch, the faience mosaic (also referred to as zellij) covering a staircase which leads to the door of are cleverly juxtaposed and combined. They the mosque. On the front porch, a triple festoon generally cover the bases of walls, floors of of brick inlaid with enamel of green netting, courtyards, porches and doorframes as well as divides the frame into two parts: the first, the the top parts of minarets. The surfaces garnished Keystone, formed by a large circular border with ceramics are the most colorful and the best round the hanger, the second is formed by two preserved ones. spandrels. The finishes of this framework, the The art of color is superimposed on the ceramic amounts that support it and the spandrels, are with geometric and floral arabesques forms. The made by arabesques, floral decor with double design of lines is mixed with that of the colors palm interlaced, regularly repeated, in mosaic to provide the place with a special atmosphere, tiled in four tones; white, brown, green and highlight its architecture and its spatial and yellow iron, framed by a green tone ceramic architectural details. In fact, these materials net. An epigraphic band in black on white conceal a rough masonry work, made of rammed background, dedicated to Sultan Abu al-Hassan, earth or unfinished bricks and provide an is written above the rectangular frame. appearance of prosperity. “The surfaces appear to The frieze which crowns the portal is decorated ISSN 2384-9568 Cultura e Scienza del Colore - Color Culture and Science | 10 | 2018 | 07 - 12 Color on Ceramics in the Medieval Architecture of Tlemcen, Algeria: Light, Ambiance and Symbolism 9 Figure 1 - (Left) Monumental porch of Sidi Boumediene Mosque, covering a staircase with eleven steps covered with multicolored diamond-shape ceramics. Source: authors. Figure 2 - (Right) The front of the porch with a triple festoon of bricks inlaid with enamel of green netting. The finish is highlighted by a four-tone floral decor. A majestic frieze ornates the upper part of the entrance porch Source: http://www.vitamineca. com/mobile/photo-gm. php?p=articles/205/205935.jpg of tones: manganese brown, copper green, iron yellow and white. The diagonal bands, joined to each other form a checkerboard, thus highlighting a grid floor. Just as the porch and the door frame, the minaret, located at the northwest corner of the mosque, is richly decorated with a polychrome mosaic. A frieze of inlaid ceramic with large with inlaid bricks of brown enamel plates and rosettes, result of a geometrical interlacing and green bands above five