Great an Nuri Mosque

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Interior view of the Great An Nuri Mosque, 2009

The Great an-Nuri Mosque ( Arabic جامع النوري الكبير Djami an-Nuri al-Kabir , DMG Ǧāmiʿ an-Nūrī al-Kabīr ), named after the Zengid Atabeg (noble ruler) Nureddin al-Sinki , is the largest and oldest mosque in the old town of the Syrian city ​​of Homs .

Location

The Great an Nuri Mosque is on the south side of an Nuri Street (شارع النوري Shari an-Nuri , DMG Šāriʿ an-Nūrī ) west of the street al-Warscha (شارع الورشة Shari al-Warscha , DMG Šāriʿ al-Warša 'Werkstattstraße') directly northeast of the traditional souks (الأسواق al-Aswaq , DMG al-aswāq 'Markets', including two large "market halls" or "covered market"سوق المسقوف Suq al-Masquf , DMG sūq al-masqūf and the "Old Market"سوق العتيق Suq al-Atiq , DMG sūq al-ʿatīq ).

history

Before Christianization there was a temple on the site of today's mosque, which was dedicated to the sun god Elagabal . One of the priests of this temple in the then Roman city of Emesa , Elagabal , became Roman emperor in 204, which he remained until his assassination in 222. After his victory in Emesa over Zenobia in 272, the Roman emperor Aurelian made sacrifices to the deity in the temple.

Under the ending of 379 to 395 reign of the Roman Emperor I. Theodosius the Elagabal Temple was in a Christian church converted that John the Baptist was dedicated. After the conquest of Emesa by Chālid ibn al-Walīd in 636, part of the St. John's Church was converted into the Friday mosque of Homs. According to representations by Muslim geographers, a talisman made of white stone is said to have stood on the gate of the mosque opposite the neighboring church at the time , which had the shape of a man in the upper body and a scorpion in the lower body and which was said to have healing powers against scorpion stings. In 1154 the Muslim geographer al-Idrisi described the Great Mosque of Homs as one of the largest in Syria. Under Nur ad-Din , who ruled as sultan from 1146 to 1174, the mosque was largely given its present shape, which now took up the entire area of ​​the old temple. After the ruler it received its current name an-Nuri . Nevertheless, the mosque underwent some major structural changes in the following centuries.

Building structure

The Great al-Nuri Mosque has a large rectangular floor plan with a likewise rectangular inner courtyard. Along the wall in the courtyard is a raised terrace that may have been the cella of the Roman temple. In the courtyard there is also a richly decorated basalt basalt that may have been a sarcophagus . Along the wall there are columns with Corinthian capitals , some of which date back to Roman times. In the arch of the mihrāb there are parts of Roman mosaics. The main entrance to the mosque has an archway with alternating black and white stones and Arabic inscriptions on both sides.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Ivan Mannheim: Syria & Lebanon Handbook . The Travel Guide (Footprint Travel Guides), Bath (Somerset) 2001, pp. 205f.
  2. ↑ Guy le Strange: Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from AD 650 to 1500 . Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, London 1890, pp. 353-357.

Coordinates: 34 ° 43 ′ 51.2 "  N , 36 ° 42 ′ 52.6"  E