Site of Sedrata

The ruins of Sedrata are located in a basin bounded by the Gours mountains. The site is mentioned only rarely in the texts and the references are often obscure. They relate that Rustamid[1] fugitives fled their capital, Tahert, which had been sacked by the Fatimids in 909, for the region of Ouargla in southern Algeria, where they settled, keeping their doctrine hidden. Now buried under high sand dunes, the city was rediscovered in 1868 and excavated until 1952. The absence of a topographic survey makes the site very difficult to understand.

Sedrata is made up of several groups of buildings, each of which occupies a hill. The mosque, whose plan was reminiscent of Abbasid buildings, rose on a peak. Its arched prayer hall, standing behind a central courtyard, had three naves parallel to the qibla. A bent entrance opened up in the northern wall and stairs led up to a terrace.

In 1951 a spacious home was excavated west of the city. It was surrounded by a wall flanked by two square towers and was accessible via a wide artery running alongside the city wall. Several rooms gave out onto the courtyard, some of which were walled up and contained a large number of human bones; in one of the rooms there was a mihrab facing Mecca. In the middle of the courtyard’s northern wall a door opened into an antechamber divided into three by semicircular arches supported by small columns delimiting two raised vaulted alcoves which were adorned with carved plaster decorations. Three rooms opened out from this antechamber. This architectural unit, designed in the shape of an inverted T, is laid out in accordance with a plan well known in the Sassanian world, which was very fashionable in the architecture of Samarra (Iraq) and Tulunid homes in Fostat (Egypt). It circulated in Ifriqiya and can be seen in the palace of Sabra Mansuriya (957-973) and Adjabiya in Libya[2] (934-946).

To the north is a palace, a vast rectangular structure surrounded by a wall flanked with towers. Access was through an entrance comprised of three semicircular horseshoe arches supported by four canted columns adorned with geometric and floral decors, exactly like those of the capitals of Monastir. An oblong room with sumptuous decor – consisting mainly of a set of fleurons encircled within arcatures, identical to the fleurons found in the Abbasid palaces of Samarra – covered with a barrel vault and lined on both sides by alcoves, was accessed via a raised platform.

To the west is the “House of Jars”, which consists of a central courtyard bounded on the east and west by several connecting rooms, one of which has alcoves at its far ends that are delimited by small slender columns with square bases. Next to this building a monument was partially excavated. It is made up of a very long hall that gives out onto another, smaller, room covered with a vault and devoid of decor. This building is identified as a mausoleum.

A niche and several fragments of carved plaster were excavated. They are engraved with a decor that goes 3 cm deep. Uneven in quality, the plaster covered only the upper parts of the inside walls, while just a few frames went down all the way to the floor. .

The decorations of Sedrata, veritable wall carpets, were arranged in panels decorated with various motifs such as rosettes, palm trees, geometric motifs and inscriptions. They are reminiscent not only of motifs employed in textiles and embroideries, but also of certain Christian decors in Tebessa. Islamic palatial architecture also provides elements of comparison which, though they may seem remote, testify to a common taste and technique; the sites of Balkh in Afghanistan and Samarra in Iraq are examples.

Sedrata seems to be the meeting point where several influences from the East and the West converge.