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Jswbf80x9d.Pdf 2 CHAPTER 6 and political structure, as Tunisia and western Algeria lost much of their agricultural wealth and entered by the twelfth Central Islamic Lands century into a western rather than eastern Islamic and Mediterranean cultural sphere. During the last century of For reasons provided in the Prologue to Part II of this vol- their existence the Fatimids controlled hardly anything but ume, the presentation of the medieval arts in central Islamic- Egypt. Whether the major changes in Islamic art which they lands has been divided into two sections. had earlier set in motion were the result of their own, The first section deals with the rule of the Fatimid Mediterranean, contacts with the classical tradition or of the dynasty, which began in Ifriqiya (present-day Tunisia) upheavals which, especially in the eleventh century, affected around 908, moved its capital to Egypt in 969 under the the whole eastern Muslim world remains an open question. f leadership of the brilliant caliph al-Mu izz, and ruled from there an area of shifting frontiers which, at its time of great- Architecture and Architectural est expanse, extended from central Algeria to northern Decoration' Syria, the middle Euphrates valley, and the holy places of x\rabia. Its very diminished authority, affected by internal north africa dissensions and by the Crusades, was eliminated by Saladin in 1 171. The dynasties dependent on them vanished from The Fatimids founded their first capital at Mahdiyya on the 4 North Africa by 11 59, while Sicily had been conquered by eastern coast of Tunisia. Not much has remained of its the Normans in 1071. superb walls and gates or its artificial harbour, but surveys The second section focuses on the art of the whole area in and early descriptions have allowed the reconstruction of a the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (at least until 1260), but magnificent gate decorated on both sides with lions, of parts only on its eastern part, essentially the Mesopotamian val- of the harbour, and of a long hall or covered street similar ley, in the eleventh. Several interlocking dynasties were to those already found at Baghdad, Ukhaydir, and even 6 involved in struggles and competitions which were as con- Mshatta. 5 The parts of the palace so far excavated have stant as they are difficult to describe and to recall. The lands yielded two features of interest [286]. First, there was a curi- of Iraq, the Jazira, Syria, Anatolia, Palestine, Egypt, Arabia, ous entrance complex, consisting of a triple gate, its centre and Yemen were a mosaic of feudal rules enriched by the set out within a large rectangular tower. As one proceeds overall prosperity of the area, much involved in the elimina- inwards, however, this gate ends in a blank wall. Two narrow tion of the Crusaders' states, and largely committed to the halls on each side of the central axis lead into the court; the revival of Sunnism and the destruction of what they consid- side entrances, on the other hand, proceed directly into the ered to be a Shi ite heresy. Although ideological opponents interior. The purpose of this odd arrangement could hardly of the Fatimids, these feudal rulers shared with them both be defensive; perhaps the four entries were to accommodate taste and material culture, and the visual distinctions some of the extensive processions which, at least 7 between the arts of the two realms is not always easy to in later times, characterized Fatimid court life. Second, we demonstrate. cannot determine whether the decoration of some of the rooms with geometric floor mosaics sprang from memories of Umayyad palaces or imitated the many pre-Islamic part 1 mosaics of Tunisia. A much restored mosque also remains from Fatimid 8 Mahdiyya [287, 288]. It was initially a rectangular The Fatimids in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria The arts of this period of some 250 years are difficult to define on account of regional differences and of the growing complexity Fatimid rest the of contacts with the of Muslim 3. Mahdiya, founded 912, palace, plan world, the Christian West, Byzantium, and even India and China. The Fatimid era is North African, Egyptian, Syrian, and Arabian; but it is also Mediterranean and pan-Islamic.' Politically, and in many ways culturally and artistically, Fatimid power and wealth were at their highest before the middle of the eleventh century. Shortly after 1050, however, in the middle of the long reign of the caliph al-Mustansir (1036-94), financial difficulties, famines, droughts, and social unrest led to two decades of internal confusion out of which order was not re-established until the 1070s. At the same time, in North Africa, an attempt by local Berber dynasties to shake off Shi'ite allegiance led to a new invasion by Arab tribesmen and to a thorough change of economic 288. Mahdiya, founded 012, mosque, interior Ml 1)11 \M ISI \M1( \KI \\D ARCHITECTURE i « : r : : f .. 10M i 1 i 289. Sabra al-Mansuriya, throne room arranged gates, the central one set within another salient decorated with niches. This earliest known instance of a composed mosque facade gives a sense of unity not only to the outer wall but also to the building as a whole. Its origins should probably be sought in royal palace architecture, where such compositions were known as early as the Lmavyad period. From the second capital built by the Fatimids in North Africa, Sabra-al-Mansuriyya near Qayrawan, we know so far only of a very remarkable throne room [289] which com- 2S7 Mahdiya, founded 912, mosque, plan bines the eastern iwan with the characteristic western 1 Islamic unit of two long halls at right angles to each other. ' The last two major monuments from North Africa to be hypostyle w ith a covered hall of prayer consisting of nine attributed to the Fatimid cultural sphere are (if we except naves al right angles to the qibla. An axial nave led to a dome certain minor utilitarian structures) rarities in that geo- in front of the mihrab, and a portico in front of the covered graphical area. The first is the palace of Ashir, in central hall served as a transition hctween open and covered areas Algeria, where, under Fatimid patronage, the Zirid dynasty ,0 and as part of a court with four porticoes. But the most sig- founded a capital around 947. It is a rectangle (72 by 40 nificant novelty is the monumental facade, involving the metres) with towers of varying sizes [290]. The single outer whole of the north western wall of the mosque. It consists of gate of the complex is transformed into two entrances into two massive salients at each corner, which emphasize and the palace proper. On one side of the court is a portico. The control the limits of the building, and three symmetrically presumed throne-room complex comprises a long hall with 200. Vshir, founded < <H7, palace, plan CENTRAL ISLAMIC LANDS • 189 291. Qal'a of the Bcni Hammad, begun <.ioio, plan 292. Qal'a of the Beni Hammad, begun c. 1010, tower three entrances and a squarish room extending beyond the outer line of the wall and no doubt dominating the land- scape. On each side of the central official unit, lining a court- yard, are two residential buildings consisting mostly of long halls. This symmetrical organization of living quarters around official areas recalls Mshatta or Qasr al-Hayr rather than the sprawling royal cities of Samarra and Madinat al- Zahra. Moreover, the palace is remarkable for its great sim- plicity: limited design, no columns, probably simple vaults, and very limited applied decoration. Though but a pale reflection of the architecture created on the Tunisian coast, Ashir is nevertheless precious for the completeness and preservation of its plan. The second monument is the Qal'a of the Beni Hammad [291] in central Algeria, begun around 1007 by a Berber dynasty related by blood to the Zirids and also under the cultural impact of the Fatimid centres of Tunisia." It was a whole city, with an immense royal compound comprising a huge tower with pavilions at the top [292], a complex of buildings crowded around a large (67 by 47 metres) artificial pool in which nautical spectacles took place, a bath, a mosque with a superb maqsura, and a series of individual houses and palaces. Neither the chronology nor the ceremo- nial or symbolic meaning of these buildings is clear; typo- logically, however, the Qal'a belongs to the succession of Samarra's or Madinat al-Zahra's sprawling ensembles, but with the emphasis on a setting for leisure and pleasure. A celebrated poem describing a lost palace of the eleventh cen- tury in Bijaya (Bougie) in present-day Algeria elaborates on this luxury and describes an imagery charged with heavenly 12 and secular topics. It was possibly this ideal of luxury that inspired the twelfth-century architecture of the Norman kings of Sicily, about which more will be said in Chapter 8. One group of fragments of unusual importance from the Qal'a of the Beni Hammad is a series of long ceramic paral- lelepipeds with grooves at one end; they must have pro- jected unevenly from a ceiling or a cornice, looking like stalactites of a particularly unusual kind 1452].'' Other plas- ter fragments were certainly more typical muqarnas transi- tions. The origin and inspiration of these features is still unresolved. They could have been local inventions or, a more likely hypothesis, local interpretations of forms and up-MEDIEVAl ISLAMK \RT AND ARCHITECTURE a square, about 1000 by 1 150 metres), as are its north-south, almost straight axial street (the present Mu'izz al-Din street), its two huge palaces more or less in the middle of each side of the cental street, with a wide open space for parades between them.
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