Mosque of al-Mansūra

Mansura is the fortified camp, which subsequently became a real city, built by the Marinid kings during the siege of Tlemcen. The ruins were later put to use, in particular by the ‘Abd al-Wadids, who reused the slabs, the onyx capitals, the marble and the columns to decorate monuments in Tlemcen[1]. Part of the surrounding wall and the minaret of the mosque are still standing.

The plan of the mosque has been reconstituted based on excavations carried out at the site. Built by the sultan Abū Ya‘qūb in 1303, the mosque was modified by Abū al-Hasan in 1336, in particular the decoration of the main door. The mosque had thirteen doors and was surrounded by a wall. Built according to an Arab plan, it had a quadrangular courtyard graced with a fountain that was surrounded by porticos on three sides: on the east and west sides, triple porticos formed by the continuation of the naves of the prayer hall, and on the north side, a single portico.  

The prayer hall, which opened directly out onto the courtyard, had thirteen naves perpendicular to the qibla wall, which ended at a distance of three bays before the mihrāb to form a plan that was already known in Samarra (mosque of Abū Dulaf, ninth century) and later in Cairo (mosque of Baybars, thirteenth century). In front of the mihrāb was a square space surmounted by a dome that occupied the length of three naves (this may possibly have been the maqsura). The space was flanked on either side by three naves parallel to the qibla wall. The mihrāb, which was really a small room, fit into a rectangular space that jutted out from the wall. Two doors, one on either side; opened out into two small rooms.

The quadrangular minaret adjoins the wall of the mosque, in line with the mihrāb; only four levels remain. Its decoration of alternating openings and blind cusped arches within rectangular frames creates a play of empty and full spaces on the surface. On the northern side a diamond-shaped network is formed by bricks in relief that were once decorated with ceramic.

Its monumental door, which serves as the main entrance of both the minaret and the mosque, is altogether typical of the Almohad period. It opens by a slightly horseshoe-shaped arch with multi-lobed arch moulding, set in a rectangular frame. The arch rests on two onyx colonnettes and bears the dedication of the monument engraved in Andalusian style on one border. Its spandrels are adorned with shells in relief, a very common motif in antiquity. The corbelling that once surmounted it has vanished. It was supported by muqarnas sculpted in stone and framed by two finely wrought brackets. This Almohad-inspired door is echoed in the Udaya Qasaba and Bāb Ruwah in Rabat, and Bāb Agnau in Marrakech.

The oldest quadrangular minaret is that of the Great Mosque of Damascus, built by the Caliph al-Wālid in 705, based on Roman towers in the temenos of the Temple of Jupiter (on which the mosque is erected). The minaret of Mansura is the highest one in Algeria. It had a hollow core made up of superimposed rooms. According to A. Lézine, the oldest example of a minaret with a hollow core is the Manār in Sousse, which is said to be derived from the ancient lighthouse of Leptis Magna. Prior to the Marinids, the Almohads adopted this type of construction in the Kutubiyya, the Mosque of Hasan in Rabat and the Giralda in Seville. As in the previously mentioned Almohad minarets, visitors reached the upper platform via a ramp built on rampant barrel vaults ending in groin vaults, traces of which can still be seen.