Beni Hammad Fort

The fortress of Beni Hammad (Arabic قلعة بني حماد, Qal ʿ a DMG Banī Hammad ) are the ruins of a mountain fortress from the 11th century in the province M'Sila in the north of Algeria.

Location

The ruined city lies near the provincial capital M'Sila on a mountainside at about 950 to 1,000 meters.

History

Already in Roman times the site was inhabited: the end of the 19th century mosaic depicting the found " Triumph of Amphitrion ", which today houses the Archaeological Museum of Algiers.

The former major Islamic fortress city with a wall circumference of seven kilometers was founded in 1007 by Hammad, son of the founder of Hammadids Dynasty (Arabic Banu Hammad ) in Algeria, as the capital and residence city. In the following years it was richly endowed with a mosque and palace and residential buildings. During its existence, it was the capital of hamma didi between emirs. The geographer El Bekri describes the city in the 11th century - but are not even ever been there - as a " center of trade, which reach out to all caravans from Iraq, Egypt and Syria, and from all parts of the Maghreb ". In 1090 the settlement was abandoned, however, under pressure from the Banu Hilal Bedouin tribes and 1152 (or 1163 ) largely destroyed by the Almohads. For those interested in archeology, the picture of a fortified Muslim city of that time, of which only the foundation walls are to receive offers.

Mosque

The foundations of about 63 × 53 meter main mosque with 13 longitudinal and 8 transepts and the - befindlichem immediately before the minaret - courtyard ( sahn ) are still recognizable. Was a result, it was a pillar mosque as the al -Aqsa Mosque ( Jerusalem), the Umayyad Mosque (Damascus ), the Sidi Oqba Mosque ( Kairouan ) and the Mezquita de Córdoba prefigured - and with slightly widened nave transept immediately prior to the qibla wall, which is why we can speak of a T-shaped floor plan. Before the mihrab niche was a - the members of the ruling family reserved - a demarcated area ( maqsura ); the left of the mihrab niche of separate entrance was for the imam, right there was the compartment for the Minbar. The construction of the mosque is not recorded - probably the second half of the 11th century, since after the (temporary) abandonment of the city in 1090 is still hardly to be expected with larger construction activities.

Minaret

, - Completely built of hewn stone - minaret of the main mosque received with its present height of about 25 meters in substantial parts of the many buildings of the once important city only has a formerly well- known lantern attachment can only be speculated. The minaret was - as in Kairouan and originally in Córdoba - exactly opposite the mihrab.

During three outer walls of the tower remained unarticulated and undecorated, the mosque faces show facade is provided in a decorative manner with arched niches and - through open windows Midfield - stepped back and a high arch cased. The mean upper - closed by masonry - niche shows up to the present day a filling of spitzbogigem Blend ' tracery ', which returns ( on a reconstruction drawing) in the arch of the underlying window. Side two tall and slender niches are embedded with bow financial statements into the masonry - above are two slightly recessed boxes, in which (according to reconstruction drawing) originally possibly a diamond or lattice decor was incorporated, of which, however, nothing has been preserved.

Striking is the fact that the lunettes of the window openings and the side companion niches (yet) - are rectangular jacketed ( alfiz ) - as in the later art of the Maghreb and Andalusia in general practice.

Palaces

Of the two most important palaces of the city also only the foundations have received.

Manar Palace

The Manar Palace is located in a separated by a wall and slightly elevated area of ​​the city: It was an unusual for the Maghreb two-story building - probably with a domed hall upstairs. Its outer walls were broken down by high niches. The entire architecture is more reminiscent of oriental buildings. Inside, some fragments were found of tiles - the earliest in the Maghreb and a further indication of oriental influences.

Dar -al- Bahr Palace

The - extended several times - building with a total surface area of ​​about 250 x 160 meters recalls in its entire layout with spacious courtyards and water basin strongly of a Roman villa. Again, tile remains were found.

Importance

Even if the Almohadenheere on their conquest and raids which - perhaps again populated in parts - destroyed city, so they took over but largely the three-lane façade of the minaret of the Qal'a for the construction of the minaret of the Great Mosque in Seville ( ' Giralda '). Perhaps the Norman summer palaces La Zisa and La Cuba in Palermo ( Sicily) from Manar Palace in the Qal'a of Beni Hammad have been inspired.

The archaeological site of Beni Hammad is on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980.