Architecture of the Islamic West. North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700–1800

323 Pages·2020·169.188 MB·English

by  Jonathan M. Bloom

ARCHITECTURE OF THE ISLAMIC WEST
North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700-1800
Some of the most famous examples of world architecture, such
as the Mosque of Cordoba, the ceiling of the Cappella Palatina in
Palermo, the Giralda tower in Seville, and the Alhambra Palace
in Granada, belong to an architectural tradition that flourished
for over a thousand years along the southern and western shores
of the Mediterranean-between Tunisia and Spain-from the
eighth century to the nineteenth. This landmark book intro
duces readers to this vibrant tradition, presenting both famous
and little-known buildings in six countries in North Africa and
southern Europe. Richly illustrated with photographs, specially
commissioned plans, and historical documents, the book traces
how Muslims introduced new architectural ideas into this re
gion and developed them in combination with local traditions
to create some of the world's most significant buildings.
JONATHAN M. BLOOM was the Norma Jean Calderwood
University Professor of Islamic and Asian Art at Boston Col
lege, and the Hamad bin Khalifa Endowed Chair of Islamic
Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, positions shared
with his wife and colleague, Sheila Blair. He is the author of
myriad books on Islamic art, including ten published by Yale
University Press.
Also available from Yale University Press:
Islamic Art: Past, Present, Future
Edited by Jonathan M. Bloom and Sheila S. Blair
By the Pen and What They Write: Writing in Islamic Art and Culture
Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom
The Art and Architecture ofI slam, 1250-1800
Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom
Printed in China
Yale University Press, New Haven and London

ARCHITECTURE
oft he
ISLAMIC WEST
North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700-1800
JONATHAN M. BLOOM
with drawings by Nicholas Warner
Yale University Press
New Haven and London
For Sheila
First published by Yale University Press 2020
302 Temple Street, P.O. Box 209040, New Haven CT 06520-9040
47 Bedford Square, London WClB 3DP
I
yalebooks.com yalebooks.co.uk
Copyright© 2020 Jonathan M. Bloom
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording
or any other information storage and retrieval system (beyond that copying
permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the US Copyright Law and except by reviewers
for the public press), without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
ISBN 978-0-300-21870-1 HB
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019949007
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
2024 2023 2022 2021 2020
Designer: Catherine Bankhurst
Copy editor: Linda Schofield
Printed in China
Front cover: Marrakesh, Sa'dian tombs, 1590. Manuel Bischof/Getty Images
Back cover: Seville, Cathedral, Puerta del Perdon, 1176. Photograph by the author
Frontispiece: Marrakesh, Ben Yusuf madrasa, 1564-5. Photograph by the author
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CONTENTS
Introduction and Acknowledgments 6
1 Islamic Architecture in Umayyad al-Andalus and Aghlabid Ifriqiya 16
2 Rival Caliphates in the West during the Tenth Century 44
3 The Long Eleventh Century: Dissolution of Empire 82
4 The Almoravids and Almohads, c. 1050-c. 1250 108
5 The Nasrids in al-Andalus 148
6 The Heirs of the Almohads in North Africa, c. 1250-c. 1500 174
7 Between the Ottomans and the Hapsburgs:
Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria, c. 1500-c. 1800 214
8 The Sharifan Dynasties of Morocco, c. 1500-c. 1800 244
9 Epilogue: The Legacies of Maghribi Architecture 268
Glossary 280
Notes 283
Bibliography 294
Index 310
Picture Credits 320

INTRODUCTION & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Some of the most famous examples of world architec example of Islamic architecture, but it hardly makes sense
ture-the Mosque of Cordoba, the muqarnas ("stalactite") in the context of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem or the
ceiling of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo, the Giralda tower Taj Mahal in Agra. This book seeks to redress the balance
in Seville, and the Alhambra palace in Granada-belong to and treat Islamic architecture in the western lands of Islam
a great architectural tradition that flourished along the not as a provincial offshoot but as a distinct tradition in its
southern and western shores of the Mediterranean between own right.
Tunisia and Spain for over a thousand years between the For the purposes of this book, the western lands of Islam
eighth century and the nineteenth. While part of the wider include northwest Africa, known in Arabic as the Maghrib
story of architecture in the lands of Islam, developments ("the place where the sun sets"), and al-Anda/us, referring
in this region became, as we shall see, largely independent to the Muslim-controlled parts of the Iberian Peninsula.
from the traditions of the eastern Mediterranean (Egypt, Sicily, ruled by Muslims from the ninth century to the end
Syria, Turkey) and in west and south Asia (Iran, central Asia, of the eleventh, briefly enters the picture, as does Libya in
India), although they shared several basic forms and tech the east and Portugal in the west of the region (map 1). This
niques, such as the hypostyle mosque and the use of muqa book begins with the coming of Islam to the region in the
rnas and tile decoration, and occasionally new ideas were seventh century CE and ends with European colonialism in
introduced from abroad. At the same time, Islamic build the nineteenth, although in an attempt to at least sketch
ings in Sicily and Spain also belong to the story of European out the whole story, I have included a few twentieth-and
architecture, but surveys frequently ignore them because twenty-first-century mosques. Covering architecture in six
they are outside the mainstream of European (i.e., Christian) modern countries-principally Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco,
architecture. The majority of surveys of Islamic art and and Spain, but also Italy (Sicily) and Libya (and an occasional
architecture mention a few famous buildings from the west mention of Portugal)-over the course of more than a mil
ern regions, such as the mosques of Kairouan or Cordoba lennium, this book could have been a doorstop, as the sub
and the Alhambra, but give short shrift to the vibrant tradi ject has never really been covered before in English.1 I have
tion of which they formed part, focusing instead on more tried to keep within a given remit, but this has meant that
familiar developments in the central and eastern lands of not every significant building could be included, and some
Islam. For example, the Alhambra is often cited as a prime readers will find that some personal favorites are missing.
I have been mulling the idea of such a book for about
45 years, inspired by my own experiences. I first went
to Tunisia in 1973 to spend six months working with a
Smithsonian-sponsored project studying the ancient
(facing page) Detail of figure 5.16 Roman mosaics there. For most of the time we lived in a