Author
Abu Al-Hasan bin Muhammad Al-Harrani (from Harran, located in northern Mesopotamia). Abdullah bin Ahmed Al-Najjar, both craftsmen are unknown.
Author Original
أبو الحسن بن محمد الحراني من حران الواقعة شمال بلاد الرافدين عبد الله بن أحمد النجار، وكلا الحرفيين غير معروف
Publication Date
School: 543/1149; Mihrab: 643/1245
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;sy;Mon01;5;ar
Library Location
West of the Great Mosque, Aleppo, Syria
Date
School: 543/1149; Mihrab: 643/1245
Notes
The mihrab is a beautiful example of Aleppo woodwork. The building it contains has an important history, as the Al-Halawi School was originally the large Byzantine Cathedral of Saint Helena, which dates back to the period of Constantinople rule. During a severe Crusader siege of the city, the Sunni population, led by Judge Ibn al-Khashab, responded to this siege by converting four churches into mosques in the early 6th / 12th century. Adding a mihrab to a wall facing the qibla to indicate the direction of prayer was the method chosen to transform the building. When Aleppo entered under the rule of Nur al-Din, he continued what Ibn al-Khashab had begun, and transformed the mosque into a religious school that he called the al-Madrasa al-Halawiyya in 543 / AD 1149. The inscriptions on the building indicate Nur al-Din’s inclination toward piety, justice, and jihad during a period of conflict with the Crusaders. The mihrab of the al-Madrasa al-Halawiyya is located on the southern wall of a small room located next to the northern prayer sanctuary in The mihrab dates back to the period of the rule of Al-Nasir Yusuf Al-Ayyubi, and it also has an important history. It was ordered to be erected by the historian, judge, poet, and calligrapher in Aleppo, Kamal Al-Din Ibn Al-Adim. It is considered a distinctive piece of Arabic woodwork and calligraphy. The elaborate mihrab is rectangular in shape and has a curved central niche. It is 4.5 m high and 3.5 m wide. It is made of Aleppo pine wood. The decorative patterns are elaborately carved with interlaced lines giving a distinctive surface completely covered with geometric and star fields surrounded by inscriptional and floral bands. The upper niche of the mihrab is surrounded by a pair of engraved semi-triangular designs including multi-pointed stars, which are surrounded by an inscription in the Atabek script. It mentions Surah No. 24 of the Qur’an, which is Surah Al-Nour, and inside the niche is another Qur’anic inscription from Surah No. 56. In Atabeg Kufic calligraphy. The mihrab is completely surrounded by a frame 12 cm wide. It is engraved with the titles of the ruler Al-Nasir Yusuf, which is reminiscent of Nur al-Din’s religious and jihadist style. The inscription also mentions the name of the shepherd, Ibn al-Adim, and the supervisor, the governor of Aleppo, Omar bin Ahmed. It dates the manufacturing process of the mihrab in the year 643/1245, meaning that it is an Ayyubid addition that falls within the spirit of Nur al-Din’s patronage of building schools a century ago. It is also possible that the mihrab dates back to the period of Nur al-Din, and that it was restored during the rule of al-Nasir Yusuf by adding a new frame bearing the thirteenth-century inscription. There is another mihrab similar to this one that was present in the Nur al-Din Mosque in the Aleppo Citadel, but it was destroyed or moved during the period of the French Mandate.
Sample Text
Zena Takieddine, Samer Abd al-Ghafour “Mihrab of the Al-Halawi School” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;sy;Mon01;5;ar
