The Meanings and Aesthetic Development of Almohad Friday Mosques
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MONUMENTAL AUSTERITY: THE MEANINGS AND AESTHETIC DEVELOPMENT OF ALMOHAD FRIDAY MOSQUES A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Degree Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Jessica Renee Streit August 2013 © 2013 Jessica Renee Streit MONUMENTAL AUSTERITY: THE MEANINGS AND AESTHETIC DEVELOPMENT OF ALMOHAD FRIDAY MOSQUES Jessica Renee Streit, Ph.D. Cornell University 2013 This dissertation examines four twelfth-century Almohad congregational mosques located in centers of spiritual or political power. Previous analyses of Almohad religious architecture are overwhelmingly stylistic and tend to simply attribute the buildings’ markedly austere aesthetic to the Almohads’ so-called fundamentalist doctrine. Ironically, the thorough compendium of the buildings’ physical characteristics produced by this approach belies such a monolithic interpretation; indeed, variations in the mosques’ ornamental programs challenge the idea that Almohad aesthetics were a static response to an unchanging ideology. This study demonstrates that Almohad architecture is a dynamic and complex response to both the difficulties involved in maintaining an empire and the spiritual inclinations of its patrons. As such, it argues that each successive building underwent revisions that were tailored to its religious and political environment. In this way, it constitutes the fully contextualized interpretation of both individual Almohad mosques and Almohad aesthetics. After its introduction, this dissertation’s second chapter argues that the two mosques sponsored by the first Almohad caliph sent a message of political and religious authority to their rivals. The two buildings’ spare, abstract ornamental system emphasized the basic dogma upon which Almohad political legitimacy was predicated, even as it distinguished Almohad mosques from the ornate sanctuaries of the Almoravids. Chapter Three turns to the mosque built by the second Almohad caliph in the Iberian capital of Seville. After demonstrating how the building’s dimensions and privileged location broadcasted Almohad authority to an ambivalent Andalusian audience, an analysis of religious works by two court philosophers, Ibn Ṭufayl and Ibn Rushd, iii helps to decode its complex ornamental program. Chapter Four examines the unfinished Friday mosque begun by the third Almohad caliph in Rabat. Its overwhelming dimensions and new typology dovetail with a recent theory that the caliph wished to make Rabat his new Maghribī capital, while the mosque’s revised ornamental program reflects the caliph’s desire to renew the political and religious foundations upon which Almohad political legitimacy rested. Chapter Five compares the Almohad mosques to the Cistercian convent of Las Huelgas, located in Castile, before the conclusion situates Almohad architecture within a broader Mediterranean context. iv BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Jessica Streit received her Ph.D. in Islamic art history from Cornell University’s Medieval Studies Program in 2013. Because the program values an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the medieval world, her minor fields include the history of the Crusades, Romanesque art and the Arabic language. Her interest in interdisciplinary study of medieval culture stems from undergraduate work at the University of New Mexico, from which she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History in 2005. There, she focused primarily on medieval Western European art and history with special emphasis on both the art of medieval Spain (both Christian and Islamic) and that of the early Italian Renaissance. v DEDICATION To my first, best ally and friend: my sister Emily. And to my own rude, mountain-dweller: Hamid, takhsagh shik. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I must begin by thanking Cornell University and its Medieval Studies Program, for both unwavering support and accommodating my itinerant research methods! At Cornell, I have been privileged to work with professors Paul Hyams, whose insights about texts are matched only by his humor, and Ross Brann, who tirelessly encouraged my first fumbling efforts in Arabic and whose careful readings have greatly contributed to this project. Cornell University also gave me students, who both challenged me and allowed me to infect them with my passion for this material. I thank all of you for productive conversations and fond memories. A good friend once correctly observed that dissertation writing is often lonely, making the restorative companionship of friends like Alyson Huff, Jessi Murphy-Blevins Campbell, Curtis Jirsa, Emily and Aaron Kelley, Sarah and Justin Harlan-Haughey, Zachary Yuzwa, Jane Calder and Kristen Streahle all the more valuable. I have been sustained by the unconditional faith that my parents and family have always had in me, newly strengthened by that of my in- laws. Finally, writing this thesis has revealed that Ibn Rushd counts my husband among his disciples; he has improved both my life and this study in innumerable ways. There remains one person to thank: my advisor and friend, Cynthia Robinson. I’ll never know what she saw in the grungy, nineteen-year-old sitting in the third row, but she is responsible for my decision to pursue a Ph.D. in Art History. For over ten years, she has guided my thinking, promoted me to future colleagues and shown me what it means to have a successful academic career. Her dedication, expertise and insight have impacted this project from its inception to its end. Of course, any errors remain entirely my own. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................iii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH...........................................................................................................v DEDICATION...............................................................................................................................vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..........................................................................................................vii TABLE OF CONTENTS.............................................................................................................viii LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................................xi INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1 1 Historiography ........................................................................................................................ 2 2 Methodological Models .......................................................................................................... 4 3 Primary Sources and Terminology ......................................................................................... 9 3.1. Buildings .......................................................................................................................... 9 3.2. Texts ............................................................................................................................... 10 3.3. Art Historical Terminology ............................................................................................ 13 4 Goals and Structure of the Study .......................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER ONE: FOUNDATIONS.............................................................................................18 1 The Almoravids in the Maghrib and al-Andalus .................................................................. 19 2 Ibn Tūmart and Early Almohad Doctrine ............................................................................. 24 2.1 Ibn Tūmart’s Biography and his Movement .................................................................. 24 2.2 Ibn Tūmart’s Doctrine and Juridical Outlook .............................................................. 322 3 The Patrons ........................................................................................................................... 39 4 The Buildings ........................................................................................................................ 49 4.1 Almoravid Religious Architecture ................................................................................. 49 4.2 Almohad Religious Architecture .................................................................................... 50 4.3 The Kutubiyya Mosques ................................................................................................ 52 4.4 The Tinmal Mosque ....................................................................................................... 59 4.5 The Great Mosque of Seville ......................................................................................... 64 4.6 The Hassan Mosque in Rabat ......................................................................................... 70 5 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 72 FIGURES CHAPTER ONE..........................................................................................................74 CHAPTER TWO: `ABD AL-MU'MIN AND THE KUTUBIYYA AND TINMAL MOSQUES....................................................................................................................................84 1 The Mosques’