al-ʿUmarī Mosque (Beirut)

The east side of the al-ʿUmarī Mosque

Floor plan 1901

The al-ʿUmarī Mosque was originally an episcopal church consecrated to John the Baptist in Beirut in today's Lebanon , which was built by the Crusaders . The three-aisled basilica has been a mosque since the Mamluks conquered the city in 1291 .

History and structure

The St. John's Cathedral was built in the early 12th century by crusaders on Byzantine and presumably Hellenistic foundations. The building is a Romanesque basilica with a high central nave and two lower aisles, each closed with an apse . It was completed probably in 1184. The cathedral was the seat of a Suffraganbischofs of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem , and also the Latin Patriarchate of Antioch the jurisdiction claimed.

After the conquest of Beirut by the Mamluks in 1291 , the church was converted into a mosque, which was given the name "Great Mosque" ( Jāmīʿ al-kabīr ) or al-ʿUmarī Mosque . For several centuries it served as a Friday mosque in Beirut . In 2008 the newly built Mohammed al-Amin mosque took over this task.

The basic structure of the building was essentially retained when it was converted into a mosque. A prayer niche ( mihrāb ) was built into the south wall at a slight angle , which shows the direction of prayer ( qibla ) to Mecca . The square minaret was added in 1508 during the Mamluk period.

Cross section, 1901
Details of the apses, 1901

literature

Denys Pringle: The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Volume 1: A-K. (excluding Acre and Jerusalem). Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge [and a.] 1993, ISBN 0-521-07295-6 .

Web links

Commons : Al-Omari Mosque - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

^ Michael F. Davie: Maps and the Historical Topography of Beirut. In: Berytus. Volume 35, 1987, pp. 141-164, here: p. 150.
^ Thomas Eck: The crusader dioceses of Beirut and Sidon in the 12th and 13th centuries on a prosopographical basis. Lang, Frankfurt am Main [a. a.] 2000, also Diss. Univ. Kiel, 1999, ISBN 3-631-35262-X .
↑ Albrecht Fuess: Effects of Mamluk Sea Policy on Beirut and the Syro-Palestinian Coast (1250-1517). Brill, Leiden 2001, ISBN 90-04-12108-0 , p. 313.

33.897621 35.505211Coordinates: 33 ° 53 '51.4 " N , 35 ° 30' 18.8" E

[1] Michael F. Davie: Maps and the Historical Topography of Beirut. In: Berytus. Volume 35, 1987, pp. 141-164, here: p. 150.

[2] Thomas Eck: The crusader dioceses of Beirut and Sidon in the 12th and 13th centuries on a prosopographical basis. Lang, Frankfurt am Main [a. a.] 2000, also Diss. Univ. Kiel, 1999, ISBN 3-631-35262-X .

[3] Albrecht Fuess: Effects of Mamluk Sea Policy on Beirut and the Syro-Palestinian Coast (1250-1517). Brill, Leiden 2001, ISBN 90-04-12108-0 , p. 313.