Tlemcen

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تلمسان
ⵜⵍⴻⵎⵙⴻⵏ
Tlemcen
Tlemcen (Algeria)
Red pog.svg
Coordinates 34 ° 52 '59 "  N , 1 ° 19' 10"  W Coordinates: 34 ° 52 '59 "  N , 1 ° 19' 10"  W.
Basic data
Country Algeria

province

Tlemcen
ISO 3166-2 DZ-13
height 800 m
surface 42 km²
Residents 140,158 (2008)
density 3,337.1  Ew. / km²
Culture
Patron saint Abu Madyan
Tlemcen
Tlemcen

Tlemcen ( Arabic تلمسان; Berber ⵜⵍⴻⵎⵙⴻⵏ Tlemsen ; in Leo Africanus also Telensin ) is a large city with approx. 150,000 inhabitants in northwest Algeria near the border with Morocco ; it is the capital of the province of the same name . Ibn Chaldūn referred to it in the late 14th century as the center of the central Maghreb .

location

Tlemcen is a good 150 km (driving distance) southwest of Oran at the foot of Jebel Terni at an altitude of about 750 to 830  m . The Algerian capital, Algiers, is a good 500 km north-east; on the other hand, the city of Mansourah , which dates back to the Merinidian period, is only about 5 km southwest. The city lies on a limestone plateau and is bordered by the southern slope of Lalla Setti ; other plateaus in the region are the Tafna and Safsaf . The climate is temperate to warm; Rain (approx. 485 mm / year) falls mainly in the winter half-year.

traffic

The Tlemcen airport - Zenata - Messali El Hadj is located 22 km northwest of the city. The city has a cable car that was inaugurated in 2009 and connects the western districts with the Lalla Setti plateau. Tlemcen is on the east-west motorway . It connects Tlemcen with Annaba . The railway has experienced an upswing since the early 1990s, and an intercity train connects Tlemcen with Sabra .

economy

After the resumption of rail passenger traffic between Oran and Tlemcen via Sidi bel Abbès and the reopening of the connection between Tlemcen and Maghnia , the transport of goods and products of the Tlemcen economy was not only facilitated but also increased, in particular access to ports such as Ghazaouet . The production of carpets, leather goods and textiles is of particular economic importance.

population

Number of inhabitants
year 1977 1987 1998 2008
Residents 96,028 110.242 132,341 140.158

Tlemcen has experienced enormous immigration from other regions of Algeria since the colonial era. The city of Mansourah, which is only approx. 5 km to the south-west and has approx. 60,000 inhabitants, must also be considered a residential and sleeping city of Tlemcen.

history

Tlemcen is located on an east-west connection in the north of the Maghreb , which was inhabited by Berbers and was important in ancient times ; the Romans called her Pomaria . After the fall of the Roman Empire , several smaller Berber kingdoms emerged. In the years around 710, the entire Maghreb was conquered by the Arabs . In 1079 the city was virtually re-founded by the Moroccan Almoravids , but they had to give way to the Almohads in 1143 . The Merinids, who were also Moroccan, besieged and ruled the city and its surroundings for a time in the early 14th century. The city experienced its heyday when it was under the Abdalwadids , or rather the Cianids , with interruptions from 1236 to 1554 the capital of an independent sultanate in the Maghreb, which also benefited from the immigration of displaced Jews and Muslims from Al-Andalus . From the middle of the 16th century, the Ottomans ruled large parts of North Africa and thus also Tlemcen. The French colonial period lasted from 1842 to 1962.

Attractions

Attractions in Tlemcen

The city center of Tlemcen consists of traditional and French-colonial quarters. There are buildings that represent evidence of a high level of Islamic culture. Plane avenues have been laid out in the chessboard-like streets of the colonial era. To the southeast of the old center are the fortifications of the Mechouar ( citadel ). Remains of the former Roman settlement of Pomaria have been preserved not far from the city in a north-easterly direction .

There are several mosques in the city, of which the Great Mosque , its current shape dates from 1132, and the Sidi Bel Hassen mosque are among the city's most important ancient monuments. The latter houses the history museum. It shows exhibits from archaeological excavations, prehistoric finds and geological conditions from the region. A special feature of the museum is the magnificently designed mihrāb with a stalactite vault .

Also worth mentioning is the mosque of Sidi Haloui , in whose prayer room onyx marble columns with designed capitals decorate the interior. The deposits of colored sintered limestone in the wider area around the city have found their way into the architecture of Tlemcen and its region, including Fez and Paris, as valuable colored decorative stones for prominent purposes. Some of them were already mined in the Roman era.

Patron saint

Patron of the city is the Sufi -Heilige Abu Madyan , who in 1126 as Shu'aib ibn Husain in Seville was born in Mecca and Baghdad acquired the experience for his doctrine and finally the village of El Ubbad (al-'Ubbād al-Suflí) at Tlemcen settled down. After his death in 1197/98, his tomb ( qubba ) was the destination of annual pilgrimages. Another revered and influential Sufi mystic from the 12th century is Abdallah es-Shudhi, who was a respected judge in Seville until, after long trips, he got stuck in Tlemcen, where he sold sweets to children and was recognized as a saint.

Personalities

science
art
Sports
politics

literature

Web links

Commons : Tlemcen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tlemcen - population development
  2. ↑ Tlemcen - map with altitude information
  3. ↑ Tlemcen - climate tables
  4. ^ Tlemcen - Lalla-Setti plateau
  5. ↑ Tlemcen - History
  6. ↑ Tlemcen - History
  7. ^ Ubbad (mosque, madrasa and tomb of Abu Madyan or Sidi Bumadyan). Discover Islamic Art. Museum with no Frontiers
  8. ↑ Uwe Topper: Sufis and saints in the Maghreb. Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Munich 1984, pp. 44-50