Bab Mansour
| Bab Mansour | |
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UNESCO world heritage 
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| Bab Mansour gate construction |
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| National territory: |
 Morocco
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| Type: | Culture |
| Criteria : | (ii) (iv) |
| Reference No .: | 793 |
| UNESCO region : | Africa |
| History of enrollment | |
| Enrollment: | 1996 (session 20) |
The extremely representative Bab Mansour ( Arabic باب المنصور= " Victory Gate ") or Bab Mansour el Aleuj gate system in the Moroccan city of Meknes is one of the most important sights of the city and the whole country. As part of the Ville Impériale Moulay Ismail it belongs since 1996 to UNESCO - World Heritage Site .
location
The gate is located on the border between the medieval old town ( medina ) of Meknes and the huge fortress and palace city ( kasbah ), which was surrounded by a separate rammed earth wall in the early 18th century . About 60 m to the southwest there is another gate (Bab Jemaa en Nouar) , which is considerably smaller, but decorated in a similar way.
history
The Bab Mansour was started after the transfer of the capital of Morocco from Fez to Meknes in the early 18th century on the orders of the Sultan Moulay Ismail, but only five years after his death (1727) in 1731/32 by his son and temporary successor Moulay Abdallah completed. A Christian prisoner who converted to Islam is assumed to be the architect of the gate - the nickname el Aleuj ("the apostate") suggests this. Against the background of the subsequent crisis years of the Moroccan Sultanate, the building fell into disrepair and was only restored during the French colonial era .
architecture
The actual gate is located in the middle of the triumphal arch structure and is not angled like the centuries-old Almohad gates in Rabat and Marrakech , but has a straight passage. This has slightly pointed horseshoe arches both inside and out, with a raised flat ceiling in between. The outwardly protruding side parts of the door, which despite their appearance have no passage function, are unusual; they rest on mighty columns, which probably come from the Roman city of Volubilis , about 25 km to the north . The core of the entire gate system consists of bricks and is covered over and over with decorative stucco panels, which develop from overlapping arches in the lower area and result in a potentially infinite decorative pattern, which is filled with tile mosaics. Above this zone there are rectangular fields with calligraphic lettering. At the very top, the gate closes with a wreath of stepped battlements , which continue in a simpler form on the adjoining mud walls.
archway
Tendrils
Tile mosaic
Tile mosaic
Tile mosaics
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literature
- Lahsen Daaif: Les Inscriptions de Bab Mansur al-'Ilg. Déchiffrement et Traduction. Al-Qantara XXXIV, 2013 ISSN 0211-3589
Web links
- Bab Mansour (Archnet, English)
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 33 ° 53 '33 " N , 5 ° 33' 53" W.