Polycandelon

In 1868, the lost town of Madînat Ilbîra was discovered during roadwork excavations in the foothills of the Sierra Elvira on the road to Alcala la Real (Jaén). The Granada Monuments Commission was brought in as soon as Roman and Arab remains were found, and the site was officially confirmed as that of Madînat Ilbîra, the ancient capital of the Elvira region of which all trace had been lost. In Arab literature, the town was mentioned by al-Razi as early as the tenth century, then again by Ibn Hayyan in the eleventh century and by Ibn al-Khatib in the fourteenth century, who even mentioned its exact location: “Ilbîra lies about one and a third parasanges from Granada (about 7 km). It is famous for its great men and in its own right ".     

Following the Muslim conquest in the eighth century, land was distributed to Tarik ibn Ziyad's Berber warriors, and the region was allotted to the Arabs, notably Hanas ibn ‘Abd Allâh al-San’anî, a military leader from Egypt. During the era of the Emirs and subsequently that of the Caliphs of Cordoba, the city’s economic prosperity made it famous, incredibly so, according to an account by al-‘Udri. After the fall of the Caliphate and the arrival of the Taifas, the town remained in the hands of Sinhaya Berber tribes who decided to change the capital to Granada. This bore ill for Madînat Ilbîra - the city was attacked, destroyed and then gradually forgotten.

This polycandelon, which was found in the Grand Mosque, is made of cast bronze. It forms a circular tray with openwork detail. It is fitted with three hoops each holding a chain, and all three come together to form a single chain, which is attached to a ball, which is in turn mounted onto a hanging ring. The tray is decorated with concentric circles that are traversed by lines radiating from the centre. Small cone-shaped glass oil burners were placed on the openwork round the edge. This pendant lamp, along with five others that were also found, helped light the inside of the building.

A fire appears to have destroyed the Madînat Elbîra mosque between 1075 and 1076, perhaps during a Christian raid - everything inside was burnt and buried. An analysis of the charred debris discovered, in addition to what remained of the metalwork, traces of woven esparto grass matting.

According to Gómez Moreno, the polycandelon is of traditional foreign design, closely related to coronae (oriental polycandelons), inspired by Visigoth or Mozarabic models. The same design is also found in the late Roman era and in Coptic Egypt and Byzantium. Similar pieces may be seen in the Grand Mosque Museum in Kairouan, the British Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Berlin Museum and the Istanbul Archeology Museum. Several large modern polycandelons are used today in the mosques of Mediterranean countries such as Tunisia and Turkey.