Juma Mosque (Khiva)

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The Juma Mosque with its brick minaret
The Juma Mosque inside

The Dschuma Mosque ( Uzbek Juma masjid ; German  Friday Mosque ) is the Great Mosque of Xiva . It is centrally located in the historic old town Ichan Qalʼа and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage .

Building

The Juma Mosque was given its shape in the 18th century. It is an example of an old type of large mosque, the area of ​​which is spanned by a flat ceiling supported by wooden pillars. Such mosques were typical in Arabia in the 7th and 8th centuries. An open courtyard principle made it possible to use the building not only as a place of prayer, but also as a place of assembly and teaching. There is no other building in Central Asia comparable to the Juma Mosque .

Possibly the Great Mosque of the 18th century was the result of one last major renovation. The geometry of the interior described as magical is created by 212 carved slender pillars . These stand in a square network, each 3.15 meters by 3.15 meters. Most of the trees from which the pillars are made were felled in the 13th and 14th centuries. Other pillars come from destroyed medieval buildings. The oldest pillars used in the Great Mosque are believed to come from the Khorezmian capital Kath , which was destroyed by the Amu Darya . 21 pillars were assigned to the 10th to 12th centuries. They have inscriptions in the form of old Arabic Kufi script . Four other pillars show inscriptions in Nashi . Pillars made later in the 18th and 19th centuries with flower and plant ornaments are assigned to the so-called Chiva type . The uniform height of the pillars is achieved by stone bases .

The interior of the Great Mosque is illuminated by skylights . Even on sunny days, these only ensure a semi-darkness. There is a small khauz under the southern skylight . On the north side in front of the mosque is the minaret of the Djuma mosque .

literature

  • Alexey Arapov: The Historical Monuments of Uzbekistan . Taschenkt · Samarkand · Bukhara · Chiva · Shahrisabz. SMI-ASIA, Tashkent 2016, ISBN 978-9943-17-075-9 , Chiva, p. 90, 91 .

Coordinates: 41 ° 22 ′ 39.1 ″  N , 60 ° 21 ′ 35.8 ″  E