Publication Date
Around the year 462 AH / 1070 AD
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;dz;Mon01;17;ar
Library Location
Bejaia, Algeria
Date
Around the year 462 AH / 1070 AD
Notes
Bab al-Bahr, also known as the Arabic Bab (Sarazin), was built under the rule of al-Nasir (454-481 AH / 1062-1088 AD), at the same time as the other five gates of the wall that protected the city. “Bab Sarazin in Bejaia, says J. Marcy, is a door to the sea, like the currently demolished arch that led to the Tunisian port of Mahdia, and Bab Al-Mreisseh in Salé (and Bab Al-Bahr in Hanin in Algeria). Before its base was covered with silt, Bab Al-Bahr allowed the passage of incoming boats to take shelter in its filled basin today, which hollows backwards.” However, no source mentions whether the sea was hitting the foundations of the wall or whether a canal gave boats access to the protected harbor basin behind the wall. The broken arch was made of filled bricks, and it rests on pillars built of masonry using two hewn stones. Above this arch, a wall also constructed of building stones raises an arch similar to the first, but it forms a more spacious vault that carried the guard’s corridor and the guard hall. As for the façade adjacent to the sea, there is an arch extending along the wall, which appears to play the role of a distribution arch for the weight of the first arch.
Sample Text
Ali Lafer “Bab al-Bahr” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;dz;Mon01;17;ar
