to the inscription found along its sides and the top of its entrance arch, the was finished on r Rajah 490 (A.D. June 14, 1097), during the reign of Yiisuf ibn !ashufin. 81 We also know the name of its maker, which is unusual for pieces of furniture (a signature has also been found on the minbar from the Kutubiyya ; see essay by Bloom herein, p. 20 and fig. 19 ): a certain Mulfammad humbly signed only his first name here, thus maintaining his anonymity. A comparison of the reconstruction of the Cordoban minbar suggested by Hernandez Jimenez (see fig. 34) to the pulpit in Algiers (fig. 38) reveals the close sim­ ilarity between the two. Each has an arch at its entrance, flanks that are subdivided into decorated square panels of equal size, and, of course, wheels (the upper part of the minbar in Algiers, including the backrest, is missing). Every square panel of the Algiers minbar, as well as the parallelograms and triangles that fill the gaps dictated by its profile, is carved with vegetal, or more rarely geomet­ ric, motifs in relief. Most of the vegetal motifs are imagi­ native mutations of scrolling patterns ending in a variety of leaf shapes, while the geometric patterns are composed of interlaced lines, both straight and curved, arranged 82 symmetrically. The only significant structural difference Fig. 38. The minbar of the Great Mosque of Algiers (1097). From between the reconstruction of the pulpit in Cordoba and Torres Balbas 1955 the minbar in Algiers concerns the original handrail. In Algiers, this is an integral part of the flanks, joined to the rest of the sides by means of wooden panels in the shape of parallelograms and triangles, while in Cordoba there was a finial on either side of each step and the handrail was formed by separate beams. An important aesthetic difference arises from the Andalusian taste for sophisti­ cated polychromy: as reported by the sources, 83 woods of different colors as well as ivory were used in Cordoba, but in Kairouan, Nedroma, and Algiers the rely only on monochromatic carved panels to achieve their decora­ tive effects. These similarities and differences are important to keep in mind when considering the production of the next min­ bar in our chronology: the subject of this publication, the pulpit from the Kutubiyya mosque, made between II37 and II45, only a few decades later than the minbar in Algiers. As we know, it was executed in Cordoba and assembled in for the Almoravid ruler cAli, the son of Yusuf ibn Tashufin. The minbar from the Kutubiyya mosque is, at the same time, a magnificent testament to the continuity of a well­ established tradition and an extraordinary example of innovation (fig. 39 ). With its eight steps and arched back­ rest, it is second in height only to the minbar in Kairouan.

Fig. 37. Backrest of the minbar from the Great Mosque of Nedroma It shares many characteristics with the lost pulpit of al­ (ca. 1086). Musee National des Antiquites Classiques et Musulmans, f:Iakam in Cordoba, such as the arched frames at the Algiers. From Mars;ais 1950 entrance (fig. 40), arches at the top of the staircase (fig. 41),

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