Author
Salman bin Maali; Hamid Zafer; Abu Al-Hassan bin Yahya; Fadael and Abu Al-Hassan, my son Yahya Al-Halabi.
Author Original
سلمان بن معالي؛ حميد ظافر؛ أبو الحسن بن يحيى؛ فضائل وأبو الحسن ولدي يحيى الحلبي
Publication Date
Its manufacture began in 564 / 1169, and was completed in 570 / 1174
Publication Place
-
Islamic Museum, Al-Haram Al-Sharif
Subject
Stained pine wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl, mother-of-pearl and ivory.
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Physical Dimensions
الطول: 245 سم؛ العرض: 112 سم
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Library Asset ID
142/40
Record ID
object;ISL;pa;Mus01;16;ar
Library Location
Islamic Museum, Al-Haram Al-Sharif
Date
Its manufacture began in 564 / 1169, and was completed in 570 / 1174
Notes
The piece is a group of fillings consisting of small and medium-sized pieces. It is all that remains of Nur al-Din Zengi’s minstrel, which was made in Aleppo in honor of the conquest of Jerusalem. The pulpit was destroyed on August 21, 1969 in the fire that struck some parts of Al-Aqsa Mosque, especially at the southern wall (the Qibla wall). Nur al-Din Zengi ordered the construction of this pulpit in preparation for the conquest of Jerusalem, but he died before liberating Jerusalem, so Saladin moved the pulpit from Aleppo to Jerusalem in the year 583 / AD 1187. The pulpit was constructed of stained wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl, ivory, and pearls, and the various units that made up it were connected to each other with wooden nails in addition to using the interlocking method. The pulpit consisted of three sections: an entrance crowned with a muqarnas flap, a staircase, and a platform covered with a pediment. The pulpit door consists of two shutters, important parts of which remain. The door opens onto the pulpit stairs, on both ends of which there is a wooden fence made in the Mashrabiya style. The stairs lead to the podium where the preacher stands to deliver the sermon. The pulpit is rich in floral and geometric decorations and stacked star plates, each plate of which forms a complete decorative unit that integrates with the surrounding units to form a beautiful decorative fabric. The pulpit also contains a group of inscriptions that were saved from the fire, which include Qur’anic verses and an inscription of the donor Nour al-Din Zengi and his righteous son, who completed what his father started, in addition to inscriptions bearing the names of the craftsmen who made the pulpit. Nur al-Din’s pulpit was considered one of the most beautiful Islamic wooden pulpits. It is worth noting that there is still a unique wooden pulpit in Palestine dating back to the Fatimid period, which is the pulpit of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, which is considered a masterpiece of extreme beauty and precision of workmanship, and it is the oldest Islamic wooden pulpit still in use until now.
Sample Text
Nazmi Al-Ju'beh “Pieces from the Minbar of Nur al-Din Zengi” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;pa;Mus01;16;ar
