Spiral minaret in samarra. The Great Mosque in Samarra is on the verge of extinction The Great Mosque in Samarra
Iraq: Mosque in Samarra
Samarra is an ancient city in Iraq, 124 km north of Baghdad, which houses one of the tallest spiral mosques in the world.
The most famous page of the life of the ancient city is associated with the arrival of Muslims in these lands: in 836, due to the unrest that arose, the capital of the Caliphate, and with it the entire Islamic world, was moved from Baghdad to Samarra, where it remained until 892, after which it returned again to Baghdad. This turn of history changed the face of the city - it turned into a large shopping center, where beautiful palaces and mosques were built. So, in 847, the Great Mosque with a unique spiral minaret was built here - at that time the largest in the world.
And its minaret, built in 848-852 by the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakil, is one of the highest today. Its 52-meter spiral also serves as a staircase leading to the summit.
Unlike most minarets, this one, due to its height, was not used to call to prayer. However, visible at a fairly large distance from Samara, the minaret has always served as a kind of confirmation of the presence of Islam in the Tigris valley.
The Malvia minaret, an impressive 52-meter tower with spiral ramps, still recalls the former grandeur of the Great Mosque in Samarra, which was the largest mosque in the world during the Abbasid Caliphate.
More than a thousand years old, the spiraling building of the mosque is at risk of collapse due to the extensive damage sustained by military attacks, according to Iraqi media reports.
The outer staircase of the mosque is unstable: several stones are missing. The walls of the minaret, carved with the names of visitors, are also unreliable. It's not safe to be there. This was confirmed by an accident that occurred on March 29, 2017: a young man tried to climb the minaret, but fell and died.
Malvia is known for its spiral structure; it is unlike any other minaret in the world. The mosque is one of the many historical landmarks of Samarra, and was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2007. Situated on both sides of the Tigris River, 130 kilometers north of Baghdad, the ancient capital Samarra is a good example of the scale of the Abbasid Caliphate, which in the 8th century was the largest Islamic empire stretching from Tunisia to Central Asia. Today Samarra is the only Islamic capitals that have come down to us that have preserved their original plan, architecture and art, in particular mosaics and carvings.
Al Ahram Gate reported on its website that a study (“Proposed Methods for the Preservation of the Great Mosque of Samarra and its Malvia Minaret”) conducted last year by Issam Khishmat of South Valley University in Egypt showed that mosques for many Over the years, various damage was caused. In 2003, during the American invasion of Iraq, the mosque served as a military base, and in 2005 the minaret was damaged in a terrorist attack that destroyed many elements of the 1200-year-old monument's architecture.
Mahmoud Khalaf, Mayor of Samarra District, said some of the damage to the mosque was caused by weather and humidity. In an interview with Al-Monitor, Khalaf said that renovations were already underway on the mosque's grounds. In 2017, UNESCO and the Iraqi authorities signed an agreement to preserve and manage the old city of Samarra. This work should begin with the restoration of the Great Mosque and the Malvia Minaret.
“I contacted officials from local and federal authorities several times to get more funds to restore this old monument, but every time we received the same answer:“ The main priority is the war against ISIS (banned on the territory of the Russian Federation - Islamosfera ), the security and stability of the country, ”Khalaf said, explaining that a UNESCO delegation is investigating the mosque to deal with the damage caused by moisture and the collapse of bricks.
Khalaf is in touch with the engineer and archaeologist Giovanni Fontana Antonelli, a member of the UNESCO delegation who is working to restore the site. “We are trying to assess the condition of the mosque and find appropriate solutions to mitigate environmental and human risks, as well as to repair the damage caused by previous improper repairs that were carried out during the Baathist regime in the 1990s,” Antonelli told Al-Monitor.
“In order to solve the tasks set before us, we will go to places and meet with local authorities and stakeholders,” he said.
According to Antonelli, "a joint technical committee monitors the quality of the work to be performed and the implementation of a joint project of Iraqi and international experts to develop a comprehensive reconstruction plan."
Al-Monitor interviewed Algerian archaeologist Mahmoud Bandakir, who is also a member of the UNESCO delegation. “The historic city of Samarra was included in the World Heritage List in 2007 as an endangered monument. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out some restoration work on the site, which is the responsibility of the government. "
According to him, “the security problem and lack of funding have led to delays in the implementation of maintenance and repair work. This means that Iraq has violated the Committee's decision world heritageadopted in 2013, under which governments were instructed to carry out proper maintenance and repair work ”.
Bandakir said: “After consultations with the authorities of Salahuddin province, it was decided to start work on the restoration of the Great Mosque, as it has the most serious damage, not to mention the fact that in due time, improper repair and restoration work was carried out at this site. In addition, the mosque was bombed during the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. ” He added that the restoration work must be carried out in accordance with international standards, as stipulated by the 1964 Venice Charter.
The head of the parliamentary committee on media and culture, Meisun al-Damluji, said in an interview with Al-Monitor: “In the near future, reconstruction of archaeological sites and monuments will be carried out and investment projects will be created. The Iraqi Antiquities Authority said that the renovation work at the mosque will be financed by the Iraqi Sunni Fund, received from tourists who visited the mosque under the regime of Saddam Hussein.
Khalaf said the restoration plan would include “the construction of infrastructure in accordance with the requirements that are imposed on monuments inscribed on the World Heritage List. Among the requirements are the construction of a building for the administration of the mosque, a consultation center for guests and the arrangement of squares. The project documents were submitted to the World Heritage Center and then sent for evaluation to the International Council for the Conservation of Monuments and Sites. "
He concluded by saying: “We are ready to discuss with them tourism and cultural investment projects related to the Grand Mosque and other city monuments.”
Adnan Abu Zeid / al-monitor.com
Samarra is an ancient city in Iraq, 124 km north of Baghdad, which houses one of the tallest spiral mosques in the world.
The most famous page of the life of the ancient city is associated with the arrival of Muslims in these lands: in 836, due to the unrest that arose, the capital of the Caliphate, and with it the entire Islamic world, was moved from Baghdad to Samarra, where it remained until 892, after which it returned again to Baghdad. This turn of history changed the face of the city - it turned into a large shopping center, where beautiful palaces and mosques were built. So, in 847, the Great Mosque with a unique spiral minaret was built here - at that time the largest in the world.
And its minaret, built in 848-852 by the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakil, is one of the highest today. Its 52-meter spiral also serves as a staircase leading to the summit.
Unlike most minarets, this one, due to its height, was not used to call to prayer. However, visible at a fairly large distance from Samara, the minaret has always served as a kind of confirmation of the presence of Islam in the Tigris valley.
The Great Mosque of Samarra (Samarra, Iraq)
Samarra is an ancient city in Iraq, 124 km north of Baghdad, which houses one of the tallest spiral mosques in the world.
The most famous page in the life of the ancient city is associated with the arrival of Muslims in these lands: in 836, due to the unrest that arose, the Abassid Caliph al-Mutasim was forced to move the capital of the Caliphate, and with it the entire Islamic world, from Baghdad to Samarra, where it remained until 892, after which she returned to Baghdad. This turn of history changed the face of the city - it turned into a large shopping center, where beautiful palaces and mosques were built.
The construction of the mosque began in 848 and was completed in 852 during the reign of his son, Caliph Al-Mutawakkil.
Today, little is left of this majestic building, and once it shook the imagination with its gigantic size and monumentality. Just imagine a huge courtyard, an imposing prayer hall and a tall minaret behind an impregnable wall with semicircular towers and sixteen entrances - all on an area of \u200b\u200b38,000 square meters, which could easily accommodate 80,000 people.
The wall of the mosque and the Malviyya minaret, famous all over the world for its height and intricate shape, have survived to this day. On a square pedestal with sides of 33 meters, a cone-shaped structure rises with a spiral staircase that winds around Malvia along its entire 52-meter height - from a wide base to a narrow top - and screwing, it seems, into the very heavens. The mosque consists of 17 rows, a wall and other buildings of the ancient architectural ensemble decorated with ultramarine glass mosaics, delicate carvings and elaborate stucco moldings.
The width of the stairs is 2.3 m - such a distance easily allowed al-Mutawakkil to get to the highest turn of the ramp riding on the revered white Egyptian donkey. From there, from the top, a marvelous panorama of the outskirts of the city and the valley of the Tigris river opens. The name of the minaret means "twisted shell", which implies a spiral staircase that winds along the walls of the minaret.
Depending on the time of day and under the influence of lighting, the walls of the mosque and the minaret are transformed, acquiring either straw, amber, brick, or golden-pink hue.
Alas, the unique building, miraculously preserved to our era, had to be badly damaged already in the current century. In April 2005, Iraqi insurgents attempting to remove an American observation post at the top of the minaret orchestrated an explosion that partially destroyed the top of the tower.
The Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo was built on the model of the Great Mosque in Samarra.
The Grand Mosque complex is under the protection of UNESCO, among other antiquities of Samarra, which together form a World Heritage Site.
The spiral minaret Malwiya, or Al-Malwiya (translated from Arabic malwiya - "twisted", or "snail shell"), in the Iraqi city of Samarra is part of architectural complex The Grand Mosque is one of the largest in the world. The tower was built in the 9th century from baked bricks and is a unique example of oriental architecture: the ascending spiral, resembling a cone from afar, reaches a height of 52 meters. The steep rise did not allow it to be used for its intended purpose: unlike most minarets, the call to prayer was not pronounced from it. The base is 33 meters wide, while the diameter of the highest point does not exceed six meters.
The staircase surrounding the minaret begins to twist against the direction of the sun from the pedestal, forming a waning silhouette of the building. The base of the upper platform is framed by arches with a pointed top - and this is the only decorative element that adorns the facade; there are no other Arab motives either inside or outside the tower.
Minaret Malvia is a visual dominant of the surrounding landscape; the cone-shaped tower, visible for several tens of kilometers, was intended to remind of the presence of Islam in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates.
If you are not planning a trip to Iraq in the near future, you can see the Malvia Tower in Malaysia, in Taman Tamadun Islam Park, where small copies of the main shrines of Islam are presented. There are several dozen mosques and minarets on its territory. The park is located in the city of Kuala Terengganu in the north-east of the country, on the Malacca Peninsula.
How to get there
Samarra is located 132 km northeast of Baghdad. The most convenient way to get to the city is by a rented car; it is better to rent a car with a driver. Baghdad and Samarra are connected by highway No. 1. Travel time is about three hours.
