Friday, December 29, 2023

Mosque al-Murādīyya

 


 Also known as Mosque an-Naqšbandi. Faithful in its exterior design to Damascene traditions, its interior is laid out on the plan of a Turkish tekkiya. 


This magnificent architectural group was constructed toward the middle of the 16th century, It is made up of the mausoleum of the founder, Murād Pāša; a convent for the mystics of the Naqšbandi confraternity (ṭarīqa), whose cells are laid out around a vast central courtyard (ṣaḥn); and a great mosque placed in the corner of the latter rather than being centered on, or aligned with it. With certain clearly Ottoman characteristics (the composition of the group is modeled after that of a Turkish tekkiya and the structure of the great mosque is similar to the nearby at-Takīyya as-Sulaynānīyya), al--Murādīyya is otherwise an example of the architectural and decorative traditions of Damascus and the Mamlūks. This is particularly noticeable in its minaret. 

 








Jacques Ghislain de Maussion de Favières. Damascus, Baghdad: Capitals and lands of the caliphs. Translation to English by Edward J. Banks. Librairie orientale (Dar el-Mashreq), Beirut, Lebanon. 1972.

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