Publication Date
AH 6th century / AD 12th century
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;ma;Mon01;3;ar
Library Location
Marrakesh, old medina, Morocco
Date
AH 6th century / AD 12th century
Notes
Abu Al-Hasan Ali Ibn Yusuf, the second Almoravid Sultan, was born to a Christian mother. He lived in Andalusia more than Morocco, and ascended to the throne in his twenty-third year. Therefore, it was not surprising that he was the creator of introducing Andalusian arts and culture to Morocco, and even the pioneer of true coexistence between the two banks of the Strait of Gibraltar, which formed the scene of his empire. He was also a great patron of the arts and a great tribute. Unfortunately, most of its architectural achievements were destroyed at the hands of the Almohads, who succeeded the Almoravids in the middle of the 5th century AH / mid-12th century AD. The dome appears among the remaining buildings that suffered significant damage. It is a wing surmounted by a dome, housing a cistern for water intended for ablution, and forming an annex to the Ali Ibn Yusuf Mosque, which was mentioned by all the chroniclers, and has since disappeared. This dome, which historians of Islamic art describe, rises “The Wonderful”, in the middle of a courtyard surrounded by nineteen public sanctuaries, was buried under several meters of rubble and ruins, and the dust was not removed from it until the years 1952 - 1953 AD. The dome, with its rectangular plan (7.30 meters long and 5.50 meters wide), includes two clearly distinct levels, separated at a height of about five meters by a thin, smooth, slightly protruding decorative band: - The outer corners of the first level consist of four solid supports, and its facades are opened on each of its large sides with double, crossed, and lobed arches, and with a lobed arch on each of its smaller sides. The second level ends with a smooth frieze, with graduated merlons. The facades of this level were open, with at least sixteen arches of various shapes: crossed, arched, and arched (five arches on each large facade and three on each small facade). The entire complex was crowned with a brick dome, decorated with small arches, interlocking decorative bands, and broken decorations, surrounding a seven-pointed star. High openings illuminate the upper interior parts, as it is noted that the basic rectangular plan has been transformed into a square plan by means of semicircular arches, exceeding the arches on the width sides of the plan. The interior decoration, which is almost absent in the lower part of the edifice, increases little by little as one looks up. This decoration, contrasting but without interruption, combines geometric, vegetal and epigraphic elements. Geometric decoration is present in the arches and veinings of the dome, in the inscription band rich with lattice decorations, which surmounts the frieze of inscriptional decorations, and in the corner curves of the dome decorated with muqarnas. The floral decoration, which is present on the large elongated panels of the dome, and on the corner curves, is also characterized by its richness, density, and skillful execution, giving the impression that it is a real, astonishing flow of floral forms. Meanwhile, the inscriptional decoration, which adorns the frames, is distinguished. And the borders, as they contain the founding inscription, which constitutes the oldest inscription written in cursive script in Morocco. All of these factors explain, despite the fluctuations to which the Marrakesh dome was subjected, that the latter made it possible to recognize Almoravid art during its heyday: an inspiring and fertile art.
Sample Text
Kamal Lakhdar “Almoravid Dome” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;ma;Mon01;3;ar
