Great Mosque of Samarra

The minaret of Samarra in Iraq is the minaret of the mosque was once the largest in the Islamic world (the so-called Great Mosque of Samarra ). It belongs to the type of the spiral minarets and is therefore under the Arabic term for spiral known in the Muslim world: الملوية al - Malwiyya, DMG al - Malwīya.

Description

The Malwiyya is in Samarra and rises 27 meters before the Great, or Friday Mosque, which was built 852 the caliph, to a height of 52 m. The mosque had a rectangular floor plan of 240 x 160 m. The courtyard was surrounded on all sides by Liwanen ( colonnades ).

The Malwiyya is not to be confused with the similar but smaller minaret of the Abu Dulaf Mosque, 20 km north of Samarra.

Location

Samarra was at that time the seat of government of the caliphs. The city on the upper Tigris flourished under the Caliph Al- Mutawakkil ( 847-861 ). Though Samarra was only temporary residence of the Abbasid caliphs, the artistic, literary, and scientific achievements of this city in the Arab history until today are legendary.

Model

It is assumed in general that the minarets of the mosques of Samarra and Abu Dulaf were built on the model of the Mesopotamian ziggurats. Reason for this assumption is that the similar helical outer staircase, the square platform and the similar structure for the muezzin.

Recent events

The Malwiyya was included in the Archaeology Awareness card game of the U.S. Department of Defense. The card game was created to investigate the U.S. military personnel on the importance of respect for cultural heritage during the operation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On 1 April 2005 the head of the Malwiyya was damaged by an explosion. According to reports, the rebels attacked the tower because U.S. troops used it as a lookout. The force of the explosion tore the left along the ramp brick pieces from.