Great Mosque of Sfax

The Great Mosque of Sfax stands in a prosperous commercial district. The appearance of its original Aghlabid core (AH 235/AD 849) has become a matter for speculation after the various remodelling works carried out on the monument. Its richly decorated eastern façade is characterised by the presence of several doors and windows topped with horseshoe arches with triple arch mouldings. Hollow niches occupy the upper parts. All these elements are emphasised and joined by a serrated cornice. This façade shares common roots with those of the Sidi ‘Ali Ammar Mosque (Sousse, mid-ninth–early tenth century) and the Bin al-Qhaoui qubba (Sousse, eleventh century). This type of decoration can also be seen on the minaret of the Qal'at Bani Hammād (Algeria, 1007–1008) and the façades of the al-Hakīm (990) and al-Aqmār (1125) mosques in Cairo, as well as on several Christian monuments.[1] Above the lintel of one of the windows there is a Byzantine marble plaque reused on the decorated side.

The sanctuary is currently approached through a side door on the northern façade. The door opens into a small courtyard surrounded by four porticos formed of round horseshoe arches resting on pillars. The portico giving access to the prayer hall is preceded by a projecting porch topped with a cupola on squinches that rests directly on the square base, a system that is found in Sicilian monuments.[2] On the right-hand side of the porch, in the lower portion, a sculpted niche bearing inscriptions serves as a mihrāb. Such elements crop up in the Near East, for instance in Egypt.[3] During the Zirid period the prayer hall was made up of five naves perpendicular to the qibla wall and six bays. Its mihrāb was walled up and abandoned during later restoration works because it was too far away in relation to the new layout. It was recently unearthed: its niche is carved with long narrow niches crowned with shells, similar to that of the mihrāb of the Great Mosque of Monastir. This motif is also widespread in Egyptian architectural decoration from the Fatimid period[4].

The current plan of the prayer hall dates back to the Ottoman era. It presents a prayer hall at right angles, corresponding to the addition of five naves. The central nave has two cupolas, one surmounting the mihrāb and the other in line with the entrance portico. Marble columns with reused ancient capitals and stone pillars ease the strain on the pointed horseshoe arches. These supporting structures constitute elements that receive the ceilings in the form of groin arches and cupolas on squinches. Curiously, this Husseinite mihrāb imitates the decoration of the former Zirid mihrāb: its niche is hollowed out with the same narrow niches and is decorated in Kufic script spelling out verses written by a great poet from Sfax.

The square-based minaret in the north-western corner comprises two superimposed towers and a lantern-turret. Richly decorated parapets frame the tops of the towers. The minaret is similar in appearance to that of the Great Mosque of Kairouan, and it seems that an original minaret was built when the mosque was founded and covered over by the present-day one. The epigraphic string-course on the upper section is somewhat reminiscent of the Fatimid base of the minaret of the al-Hakīm mosque.

[2] Palermo, La Cubola, Sicily, 1180.  http://www.entasis.it/grandtour/palermo19.htm

[3] Mosque of Ibn Tulūn: they were installed in the Mamluk era under the reign of Sultan Lâjîn (r.1297-1299).

[4] Façade of the al-Aqmar Mosque, Cairo, Egypt, 1125.