The STATION lies to the E., 6 min. beyond the Porte de Sidi Bou-Médine
(Pl. D, 2, 3).
HOTELS. _Hôtel de France_ (Pl. b; C, 3), Rue de Fez, R. 2½–4, B. 1¼,
déj. 3. D. 4, pens. 9–12, omn. 1 fr.; _Hôtel Charles_ (Pl. a; C, 2),
Place des Victoires, R. 3, B. ¾, déj. or D. 3, pens. 7½, omn. 1 fr.,
good, though plain, with restaurant.—CAFÉS in the Place de la Mairie,
Place des Victoires, etc.
CARRIAGES (mostly with three horses, poor but not dear; fares
according to bargain) in the Place des Victoires and Esplanade du
Méchouar.
POST & TELEGRAPH OFFICE (Pl. B, 2), Boulevard National.
ONE DAY AND A HALF. 1st. Forenoon, *_Great Mosque_ (p. 189), _Museum_
(p. 190), *_Sidi el-Haloui Mosque_ (p. 191), _Agâdir_ (p. 196);
afternoon, *_Mansura_ (p. 193).—2nd. *_Sidi Bou-Médine_ (p. 194).
Mosques open daily 8–11 a.m.; at other times a permit of the
sub-prefect (see Pl. B, 2) is required (comp. also p. 174).
_Tlemcen_ (2658 ft.), the old capital of the central Maghreb (Maghreb
el-Oust), was in the middle ages, along with Fez, one of the great
trading stations between the W. Sahara and the Mediterranean, and had a
factory of the Genoese and the Venetians. It is now, after Oran, the
most important town in the province, with 37,300 inhab. (including
25,500 Mohammedans, chiefly Berbers and Moors, and 5000 Jews); it
possesses the only Medersa (p. 228) in the province of Oran, founded in
1904, and is the chief military post on the W. frontier of Algeria. The
town is very charmingly situated on a flat hill at the base of a ridge
crowned with the _Kubba Lalla-Setti_ (3363 ft.), a spur of the _Jebel
Terni_ or _Massif de Tlemcen_. Beyond the extensive hilly region to the
N., sloping steeply down to the valleys of the Isser and the Tafna (p.
185), we descry the bold mountains of the Traras group (p. 198) and of
Jebel Sebaa-Chioukh (p. 185). The nearer environs of the town, on the
upper margin of the plateau, are exuberantly fertile. Luxuriant
fruit-bearing hedges are interspersed with groves of gigantic olive,
carob, and pistachio trees, from whose shade peep forth the white domes
of numerous tombs of saints (p. 172).
Tlemcen still contains historic memorials of its mediæval prime and a
number of Moorish works of art, mostly of the Abdelwadite and Merinide
periods (p. 188). These last, like the buildings of Fez and Kairwan (p.
372), are among the most interesting in Barbary. Their great charm
consists in the fact that their native characteristics have been
preserved in a picturesque environment where customs and dress differ
but slightly from those of the ancient East.
_Pomaria_, the earliest settlement in this region, was once, like
Altava (p. 186) and Numerus Syrorum (p. 197), a Roman camp for the
defence of the most important military road in Mauretania Cæsariensis
(p. 244), but in Roman times, notwithstanding its favourable position,
it was outstripped by Siga (p. 185). On its site, by the time of Sidi
Okba (p. 322), there had already sprung up the Berber settlement of
_Agâdir_, which, under Idris I. (p. 95) in 790, became the fortified
capital of the E. province of Morocco for defence against the
Kharijite kingdom in Tiaret (p. 208). For seven centuries from that
time onwards it was involved in all the party struggles for the
possession of Barbary. During the conflicts of Omaiyades (p. 69) and
Fatimites (p. 323), the governors of Agâdir, descendants of Solaïmân
ben-Abdallah, brother of Idris I., maintained their position as
vassals of one or other of these dynasties, but in 973 the town was
sacked by Bologgîn ez-Ziri (p. 323) in the course of a war against the
Omaiyades.
In 1081 the Almoravide Yûsuf ibn Têshufîn (p. 95) appeared before the
gates of Agâdir, and on the site of his camp (Berber ‘tagrârt’)
founded the new town of _Tagrârt_, afterwards the _Telensîn_ or
_Tlimsân_ of the Moors, and united W. Algeria with Morocco. In 1145
the vicinity of Tagrârt witnessed the decisive battle between Tâkhfîn
ben-Ali (p. 183) and Abd el-Mûmen (p. 95) which sealed the fate of the
Almoravide kingdom. Since then Tagrârt appears in history as the seat
of Almohade governors of the family of Abd el-Wâd, settled near
Tlemcen, a branch of the powerful Berber tribe of the Zenata, and also
as a military camp, while the lower classes only inhabited Agâdir.
The fall of the Almohades (p. 95) gave rise to the kingdom of Tlemcen,
which was soon extended to the W. to the Mulûya (p. 124) and to the E.
to Bougie (p. 262). The first independent monarch was Yarmorâsen
ben-Zeiyân (1239–82), of the _Abdelwadites_, who, with the aid of
Moorish artists from Andalusia, transformed Tlemcen, his capital, into
a rival of Fez as one of the most brilliant art-centres in Barbary.
Embellished in legend and in poetry, and most famous among episodes in
the annals or the Maghreb were the two sieges of Tlemcen by the
Merinides (p. 95). The first siege by Abû Yakûb and his grandson
Abû-Tsâbit Omar (1299–1307) commenced with the foundation of the
fortified town of _El-Mahalla el-Mansura_, which, saving the mosque,
was razed to the ground by the Abdelwadites after the withdrawal of
the Moroccan army, but was rebuilt by Abû’l-Hasen Ali (1335–7) on the
occasion of the second, and this time successful, siege of Tlemcen.
To the brief sway of the _Merinides_ (1337–59) Tlemcen is indebted for
almost all the important buildings outside of its walls. The chief
residence of Abû’l-Hasen Ali (d. 1348), next to Fez, was Mansura,
where he erected a new ‘palace of victory’ as his kasba; but the place
was abandoned under Abû Inân Fâres (1348–58), and from that time down
to the French period it merely served as a stone-quarry.
During the brilliant reign of Abû Hammu Mûsa II. (1359–89), the first
of the _Ziyanides_ (1359–1517), the younger Abdelwadite dynasty, his
court vied with that of Granada as a resort of artists, poets, and
scholars; but from that time onwards Tlemcen shared the general
decadence of Barbary. It was not only the chief scene of all the
conflicts between the Merinides and Hafsides (p. 323), but was
grievously torn by internal dissensions also, so that it soon lost all
importance. After the overthrow of the Ziyanides by Horuk Barbarossa
(p. 221), and after a short occupation by the Spaniards (1518),
Tlemcen became a poor provincial town in the beylic of Oran. The
present town-walls (1855–6) and a whole new quarter are creations of
the French régime, under which, in 1842, Tlemcen was incorporated with
their new colony of Algeria.
Comp. _Marçais’s_ book on Tlemcen mentioned at p. 175 and _A. Bel’s_
‘Tlemcen et ses Environs’ (Oran, 1909).
From the Porte de Sidi Bou-Médine (Pl. D, 2, 3), the chief gate of the
town, the Rue de Sidi Bel-Abbès leads in 2 min. to the ESPLANADE DU
MÉCHOUAR (Pl. C, 3), planted with fine plane-trees. On the left rises
the—
=Méchouar= (Arabic _meshwâr_, the king’s castle), the residence of the
Abdelwadites and Ziyanides, erected by Yarmorâsen about 1255, a great
quadrangular pile, forming like the Alhambra a complete quarter of the
town. The building was largely destroyed during a revolt against Hassan,
Bey of Mascara, in 1670, and in 1842 was replaced by French barracks.
The only relics of the original edifice are the _Castle Wall_, built by
Abû’l-Abbâs Ahmed, the thirteenth Ziyanide, with its modern clock-tower
of 1843, and the _Castle Mosque_, founded in 1317, which was long used
as a storehouse. The latter, having been converted into a chapel for the
military hospital, has lost its original character in the interior (adm.
on application).
From the E. end of the Esplanade the Rue du Théâtre leads to the PLACE
DES VICTOIRES (Pl. C, D, 2), planted with trees, from the parapet of
which we look down on the E. Mohammedan quarter (p. 191) and the hills
of the Safsaf valley.
A little to the N.W. is the PLACE DE LA MAIRIE (Pl. C, 2), which,
together with the Place d’Alger (p. 190) on its W. side, forms the
business centre of the town. On its S. side rises the _Mairie_ (Pl. C,
2), erected in 1843. In the court are two onyx columns from Mansura,
bearing two huge stone balls which were thrown into the town during one
of the Merinide sieges.
The *=Great Mosque= (Pl. C, 2; Arabic _Jâma el-Kebîr_), the back of
which bounds the N. side of the square, now the only edifice of the
Almoravide period at Tlemcen, is very important in art-history as one of
the few Moorish buildings of the 12th cent. that have survived without
alteration. The inscription on the frieze of the drum of the mihrâb dome
records the name of the founder, the caliph Ali ibn Yûsuf, who with the
aid of Andalusian artists erected the court and the house of prayer
adjacent to the _Kasr el-Kadîm_, or royal castle, in 1135–8. The minaret
was not added till the reign of Yarmorâsen (after 1250). The kubba at
the S.W. angle, adjoining the Rue de France, once perhaps the tomb of
Yarmorâsen and several of the Ziyanides, now contains the vault of
_Mohammed ben-Merzûg_. On the E. side of the mosque, near the old vine
in the side-street, is a second saint’s tomb, the kubba of _Ahmed
Bel-Hasen el-Ghomari_ (d. 1466). The library, a later addition next to
the minaret, has been removed by the French.
The square court of the mosque, which we enter on the E. side, is
flanked on three sides by triple or quadruple arcades; the two aisles of
the N. arcade, which precede the minaret, are of later date. The
irregular plan of the arcades and of the main portal leading into the
nave of the mosque was probably due to the situation of the castle. The
onyx pavement of the court is preserved in part only.
The INTERIOR, consisting of a central nave (15 by 10½ ft.) with twelve
narrower aisles, is entered by five portals on the S. side of the court,
whose arches are of round or pointed horseshoe form or multifoil, and
also by two E. portals. The arcades, whose arches are mostly
horseshoe-shaped, but in a few cases pointed, rest on short pillars. The
open roof is well preserved. The nave is crowned with two domes, the
nearer rising behind the sedda (p. 180), while the second, over the
mihrâb chapel, shows beginnings of stalactite vaulting. The great
candelabrum under the central dome is modern and is for the most part an
imitation of the old one said to have been presented by Yarmorâsen and
now in the Museum (see below). The mimbar and kursi (p. 451) are of no
artistic value, and the maksûra (p. 71) has disappeared. The elegant
stucco ornamentation of the *Mihrâb, which even extends to the exterior,
where the stone slabs are framed with multifoil arches, recalls the
mosque of Cordova. The prayer-niche is lighted by three perforated
windows of plaster. Behind the mihrâb is the sacristy.
The MINARET, 115 ft. high, resembling the tower of Agâdir (p. 196),
affords a beautiful view of the town and environs.
On the W. side of the PLACE D’ALGER (Pl. C, 2), where the ruins of the
famous _Medersa Jadîda_ or _Tâkhfînîya_, a school for the learned
erected by the Abdelwadite Abû Tâkhfîn (1322–37), existed down to 1876,
rises the—
*=Sidi Bel-Hassen Mosque=, now the _Museum_ (Pl. 2, B, C, 2; custodian
in the court of the Mairie; fee ½ fr.), erected in 1296 by the
Abdelwadite Abû Saïd Otsmân. It consists of nave and two aisles, with a
low minaret. Used by the French successively as a storehouse and a
school, it was carefully restored in 1900, and is now a perfect gem in
the interior. The stucco *Decoration of the walls, preserved in part
only, with its rich and graceful arabesques (p. 445), and the
geometrical ornamentation of the round-arched plaster windows, recall
the sumptuous rooms of the Alcázar at Seville and the Alhambra of
Granada. The half-dome of the **Mihrâb, whose horseshoe mural arch rests
on two small columns of onyx, is borne by stalactite or honeycomb
vaulting. The ancient roof of cedar is well preserved in the left aisle
only.
Below the two friezes with Cufic inscriptions adjoining the Mihrâb are
fragments, built into the wall, of fayence tiles from the old Medersa
Tâkhfînîya and the Méchouar. The beautiful onyx basin once belonged to
the latrine-court of the Great Mosque. Along the walls are several
Roman and numerous Mohammedan tombstones, some of them belonging to
kings of Tlemcen. Near the entrance is the so-called Coudée Royale, a
marble slab from the Kessaria (comp. p. 191), bearing an ell-measure
and regulations for the trade of Christian merchants with the natives
(1328). In the second room are the old candelabrum and remains of the
old maksûra of the Great Mosque (comp. above), Moorish and Turkish
tiles, etc. On the first floor is the _Geological Museum_.
The dirty streets to the S. of the Place de la Mairie and the Place
d’Alger, which have been laid out in straight lines under the French
régime, belong to the _Jewish Quarter_, where, however, a few of the old
one-storied houses with a kind of sunken flat, still survive.
A pleasanter walk may be taken through the =Mohammedan Quarters=,
especially that to the E. of the Place de la Mairie, where we may
witness, especially on market-day (Mon.), the most lively and
picturesque scenes of native life. The busiest points are the _Marché
Couvert_ (Pl. C, 2) in the Place du Kessaria, where the Italian
merchants had their offices in the middle ages, and also the Rue de
Mascara (Pl. C, D, 2, 1) and the Rue Kaldoun (Pl. C, D, 1). Adjoining
the Rue de Mascara, once the Sûk el-Berada’in (saddlers’ market), is an
impasse called the Derb el-Msoufa, in which is situated the little
_Mosque of Sidi Senoussi_ (Pl. D, 2; his tomb is near Sidi Bou-Médine,
p. 194), with a graceful minaret inlaid with tiles and a small house of
prayer on the first floor.
In the street between the Rue de Mascara and the Rue Kaldoun are the
so-called BAINS DES TEINTURIERS (Pl. D, 1; _Hammâm es-Sebbâghîn_), an
ancient Moorish bath-house (12th cent.?), the plan of which seems to
have been an exact copy of the Roman bath.
The ante-room, now much altered, was apparently the tepidarium.
Straight on we come to the apodyterium, a domed room on twelve short
mediæval columns, with a gallery running round it. To the left of this
room is the caldarium in three sections, with the heating apparatus on
the E. side. The S. side-room is the frigidarium.
At the end of the Rue Kaldoun we leave the town by the Porte de
l’Abattoir (Pl. D, 1; road to Agâdir, see p. 196), and turn to the left,
skirting the town-walls, above the dilapidated _Sidi Lahsen Mosque_,
built by Abû’l-Abbâs Ahmed (p. 189), which has an elegant minaret and an
interior restored in the Turkish period.
On a slope near the N.E. angle of the town-walls, below the railway, and
formerly below the Bâb Sidi’l-Haloui, is the tomb of the saint of that
name (d. 1307), adjoined by the—
*=Sidi el-Haloui Mosque=, a creation of the Merinide Abû Inân Fâres (p.
188). The pinnacled outer gateway leads to the now freely restored chief
portal, with its fine inlaid mosaic tiles, two friezes with
inscriptions, and a projecting timber roof.
The ground-plan of this mosque is similar to that of the slightly
earlier mosque of Sidi Bou-Médine (p. 194). From the court, enclosed by
a single arcade, we enter the house of prayer with its nave (11 ft.
broad), double aisles (10 ft.), and transept. The square mihrâb chapel
is covered by a slightly elevated tiled roof instead of a dome. The old
timber ceiling of the interior has recently been much restored, and
remains of the superb stucco decoration have lately been brought to
light from under the whitewash. The mihrâb has lost all its rich
ornamentation save the stalactite vaulting. The eight onyx *Columns,
brought from Mansura, which support the pointed horseshoe arches of the
arcades, are remarkable for their beautiful capitals in the Moorish
style.
The minaret added at the W. angle of the court, with its multifoil
arched niches in the two lower stories and reticulated work on the
upper, resembles that of the mosque of Sidi Bou-Médine. A portal
opposite with a projecting roof leads to the domed _Latrines_.
We now follow the path to the W., skirting the town-walls, and affording
fine views, to the Porte du Nord (Pl. B, 1), through which we enter the
Rue de France. From this street the Boulevard National soon diverges to
the right to the large PLACE CAVAIGNAC (Pl. B, 1, 2), the chief square
in the uniformly built French quarter. The font in the church of _St.
Michel_ (Pl. B, 2) came from the mosque of Mansura.
On the E. side of the church runs the Rue Ximénès, intersecting the
whole town. This street, or the Rue de la Victoire (Pl. C, B, 2), which
begins at the Place d’Algier, forms the chief approach to the _S. W.
Mohammedan Quarter_, which was inhabited in the Turkish period mainly by
Kuluglis (p. 171). At the S. end of the Rue Ximénès, on the left, is the
interesting _Ecole Professionnelle Indigène de Tapis_ (Pl. C, 4; adm.
daily 8–11 and 2–5, except on Sun., Frid., and great festivals).
The busy Rue Haëdo, prolonging the Rue de la Victoire, leads to the S.W.
to the Porte de Fez (Pl. A, 4). In the Rue Sidi-Brahim, the first
side-street on the left, is the—
SIDI BRAHIM MOSQUE (Pl. B, 3), formerly belonging to the _Medersa
Yakûbîya_. The Medersa was built in 1362 by Abû Hammu Mûsa II. (p. 188),
and named after his father, but the last vestiges of it were removed in
1846. This small mosque, with nave and double aisles, received its
present decoration in the Turkish period. The mihrâb, adorned with the
Turkish crescent, has mural tiles with gold lustre in the Gubbio style.
The present pulpit, from which the Friday prayer was recited for the
Kuluglis, was executed by the Turkish artist Mohammed Ben-Hasen
Ben-Ferfara (1831–2), and the door of the old sacristy was carved by
Sâlim Bu-Jenân Ben-Ferfara. The _Kubba of Sidi Brahim_ (d. 1401),
adjoining the mosque, still contains its old geometric stucco decoration
and mosaic tiles.
The _Oulâd el-Imâm Mosque_ (Pl. B, 3), to the N. of the Rue Haëdo, was
built about 1310 by the Abdelwadite Abû Hammu I. as a chapel for the
Medersa el-Kadîma, the oldest school of the learned at Tlemcen, but is
now in a sad state of ruin. The minaret still shows traces of fayence
mosaics. The fine mihrâb was probably redecorated under the Ziyanides.
In the Rue d’Hennaya, near the Fez Gate, rises the modern _Medersa_ (Pl.
A, B, 3), a tasteful new-Moorish edifice (visitors admitted).
To the W. of the modern town-walls, between the Porte de Fez and the
Porte d’Oran, lies the =Grand Bassin= (Pl. A, 3; Arabic _Sahrîj
el-Kebîr_ or _ben-Bedda_), a large reservoir, similar to the reservoirs
of Kairwan and Marakesh, constructed of concrete, 220 yds. long, 110
yds. broad, and 10 ft. deep, now used as a drill-ground. It is said to
have been made by Abû Tâkhfîn (p. 190). According to a tradition the
last of the Ziyanide dynasty were drowned here by Horuk Barbarossa (p.
221) in 1517.
To the N.W. of the French town-walls, between the Porte d’Oran and the
Porte du Nord (p. 192), rises the *=Bâb el-Kermâdîn= (Pl. A, 1; potters’
gate), which already existed in the time of Yarmorâsen (p. 188), so
named from the potsherds contained in its concrete masonry. The gateway,
with its four towers and quadrangle, resembles the propugnaculum of
late-Roman town fortifications.
* * * * *
The *=Ruins of Mansura=, the old entrenched town of the Merinides (p.
188), are reached from the Porte de Fez (p. 192) by the road to
Lalla-Marnia (p. 197), to the S.W., in 20–25 min. (carr. there and back
2½–3 fr.), The road passes (¼ hr.) the so-called _Bâb el-Khemîs_, a
brick structure of unknown use, now much restored. A little above it are
the ruins of a second building of uncertain origin (possibly the ancient
_Mosalla_).
In 6 min. more we reach the old *_Town Wall_ of Mansura, near the former
E. gate of the town, within the precincts of which, to the left, above
the road, is ensconced the modern agricultural village of Mansura amid
luxuriant vegetation. The walls, 40 ft. high, constructed of concrete,
enclose a great irregular quadrilateral space of about 4400 yds. in
length, and are still largely preserved on the N.W. and S.W. sides. Of
the towers, about 80 in number, connected by a crenellated passage, most
are rectangular in form, but the four far-projecting corner-towers, like
the eight gate-towers, are quadrangular.
Near the old E. gate, above the road, are a _Bridge_ and remains of a
rudely paved _Street_ of the Merinide period. Of the old _Palace of
Victory_, the Kasba of Abû’l-Hasen Ali (p. 188), once sumptuously fitted
up, there are now, on the highest ground in the town precincts, at the
S.E. angle of the present village, a few scanty relics only, the chief
of which is the inner court, resembling the myrtle court of the Alhambra
(p. 83).
Close to the old W. gate, on a plateau above the road, rises the
**_Mansura Tower_ (130 ft.), the minaret of the chief mosque, founded by
Abû Yakûb (p. 188). The back-wall, the staircase, the upper platform,
and the muezzin’s turret have fallen in, but the ruin, with its
golden-toned masonry glowing in the sunshine, its peaceful surroundings,
and the superb view from its base, has an indescribable charm. The ruin
was restored in 1877.
The portal of the minaret formed the central entrance to the court of
the mosque. Of the three concentric gateway arches the inmost
horseshoe arch, resting on two onyx columns, has been entirely
renewed. The first story here, as in no other Moorish minaret, is
adorned with a balcony, borne by corner brackets and stalactite
pendentives, now without columns. The second story, relieved by narrow
window openings, has the usual reticulated ornamentation, while the
upper story is adorned with multifoil arched niches. Remains of the
fayence mosaics are still visible at places.
The custodian, who has generally to be asked for in the village, shows
the ruins of the court and of the mosque itself, which once had
thirteen arcades.
* * * * *
The hill-village of =Sidi Bou-Médine= (2841 ft.), picturesquely situated
amid olive-groves on the slopes of _Jebel Mefroûch_, 20 min. to the E.
of Tlemcen, contains, like Mansura, some of the finest existing
memorials of the Merinide period. It was once named _Eubbâd el-Fûki_
(‘upper Eubbâd’), and at a very early period belonged to a monastery,
the _Ribât el-Eubbâd_, but it derives its present name from _Sidi
Abû-Median_, a scholar from Seville (about 1126–97), who was buried here
by order of the Almohade Mohammed en-Nâsir (1198–1213). Around the kubba
of that great scholar and saint, which for centuries attracted countless
pilgrims, are grouped the buildings of the Merinide sovereigns.
The road to Sidi Bou-Médine, only the lower half of which is fit for
driving, branches to the right from the Sidi Bel-Abbès and
Aïn-Temouchent road, 2 min. from the Porte de Sidi Bou-Médine, and
passes below the _Mohammedan Cemetery_ (makbara), with its wealth of
cypresses. By the wayside are a number of saints’ tombs, mostly in
ruins, among which is the kubba of _Sidi Senoussi_ (d. 1490), with its
green-tiled roof. We pass also the remains of mosque walls and a ruined
minaret, which belonged to the village of _Eubbâd es-Sefli_ (‘lower
Eubbâd’) once situated here.
We ascend through a defile shaded with fine old fig and cherry trees,
and soon reach the lower entrance of the village, whence we go straight
on to the mosque, with its conspicuous minaret, and the kubba of the
saint (guide quite needless). The outer gateway, decorated anew in the
later Turkish period, with its clumsy wooden penthouse in front, is the
entrance to a forecourt, within which are the two sacred edifices and
the _Maison de l’Oukil_ (now the works-office), a building of the time
of Mohammed el-Kebîr (p. 178), on the site of the ancient Zaouïa or
pilgrims’ hospice.
The _Kubba of Sidi Bou-Médine_, to which steps descend to the left under
the penthouse, was restored by the Merinide Abû’l-Hasen Ali (p. 188),
and towards the end of the 18th cent. was injured by a fire. It owes its
present decoration, save the four onyx columns from Mansura and the
sacred fountain in the vestibule, to Mohammed el-Kebîr, whose artist,
named in the inscription on the frieze of the gateway, was El-Hâshmi
ben-Sarmashîk (1793). The vault, richly garnished with flags,
ostrich-eggs, votive offerings, etc., contains the coffins of Sidi
Abû-Median and the Tunisian saint Sidi Abd es-Selâm side by side
(custodian 20–30 c.).
The *=Mosque=, erected in 1339 by Abû’l-Hasen Ali, about the same date
as the myrtle-court palace of the Alhambra (comp. p. 80), is one of the
most brilliant creations of the exuberant Moorish art of the 14th cent.;
and, thanks to the sanctity of its site, it has survived the wars of the
Ziyanide age and resisted the decadence of the Turkish period without
serious damage. The custodian is usually to be found in the vestibule of
the gateway.
The **_Chief Portal_, now skilfully restored, is a masterpiece of
artistic decoration. The superb outer gateway, whose lofty horseshoe
arch opens into the vestibule, is lavishly enriched with fayence
mosaics, which show beautiful arabesque patterns in the rectangular
stonework of the doorway, and geometrical designs above the frieze with
the inscriptions. The gateway is crowned by a tiled roof resting on
narrow brackets.
Eleven steps ascend to the vestibule, where the stucco decoration of the
upper wall-surfaces vies in beauty with the stalactites of the dome. At
the inner gateway the lower part of the doors of cedar-wood has been
skilfully encrusted anew with bronze. The door-knockers resemble those
of the present Puerta del Perdón at Cordova (p. 70).
We now cross the simple _Court of the Mosque_, flanked with single
arcades, to the _Mosque_ itself, with its nave and double aisles. The
somewhat broader nave and the transept by the wall of the mihrâb recall
the ground-plan of Sidi Okba’s Mosque at Kairwan (p. 374). The arcades,
whose horseshoe arches, like those in the court, rest on pillars of
masonry, and all the wall-surfaces are encrusted with stucco. The richly
coffered stucco ceiling of the aisles is well preserved, but the
perforated dome of the mihrâb chapel was tastelessly restored in the
later Turkish period. The *Mihrâb, with its stalactite half-dome, its
friezes with Cufic inscriptions, and the three perforated plaster
windows, deserves special attention. The capitals of the two onyx
columns which support the horseshoe arch of the niche are the finest at
Tlemcen. The pulpit is modern.
The *_Minaret_, like the Kutubia at Marakesh, which it resembles in its
lowest story, still shows the three copper balls on its muezzin-turret.
The rosette ornamentation under the platform is peculiar. The ascent is
recommended for the sake of the fine survey we obtain of the village and
the beautiful view of the hilly plain of Tlemcen with the minarets of
Agâdir (p. 196) and Mansura.
A few paces above the outer gateway of the mosque court a flight of
steps on the right ascends to the old =Medersa=, now a national school.
This edifice, erected by Abû’l-Hasen Ali in 1347, is the only learned
school of the kind still preserved in Barbary, besides that of Marakesh;
but it has been almost entirely restored, first by Mohammed el-Kebîr
about 1793, and lately by the French government. The building is usually
shown by the teacher (50 c.).
The portal, ornamented with fayence mosaics and surmounted by a
projecting roof like the chief door of the neighbouring mosque, opens
into a court, adorned with a fountain and flanked with an arcade. On
each side are six cells for the students (tholba, sing. thaleb); and
there are four others in the small court adjoining the S.E. angle. The
niches in the walls for the books and lamps of the students should be
noticed. In the centre of the S. wall of the court is the entrance to
the old room for study and prayer, with a mihrâb and a wooden dome which
was probably restored in the time of Mohammed el-Kebîr. The stucco
enrichment of the walls is best preserved on the entrance side. The old
court of ablutions adjoins the N.W. angle of the main quadrangle.
The platform of the upper floor of the court, where there are twelve
more cells, affords the best view of the minaret of the mosque.
At a small house near the Medersa we obtain the key (fee 30 c.) of the
so-called _Petit Palais d’el-Eubbâd_, a ruin popularly called _Dâr
es-Soltân_ (palace of the sultan), situated below the Kubba of Sidi
Bou-Médine. The building, which also dates from the Merinide period,
was more probably a hospice for the richer pilgrims. It comprises
three courts with small side-rooms or alcoves, like those of the
Alhambra, and remains of baths and latrines. A visit to it hardly
repays if time is limited.
On the way to the ‘Dâr es-Soltân’ we pass the _Latrine Court_ of the
mosque and the so-called _Kubba of Sidi el-Eubbâd_. From (2 min.
farther) the E. end of the village we may descend, and cross the
railway, to (6 min.) the Sidi Bel-Abbès road.
This road leads to the E. through olive-groves, and then, turning to
the S., through the _Safsaf Valley_ to (¾ hr., or from Tlemcen 1 hr.)
the gorge of *=El-Ourit= (p. 186; carr. there and back 4–5 fr.). The
bridge across it affords a fine view of the valley and the lower
waterfalls. (Rfmts.)
* * * * *
The road to Aïn-Temouchent (p. 185) diverges to the left from the Sidi
Bel-Abbès road, at a point 10 min. from the Porte de Sidi Bou-Médine (p.
188), and about ½ M. farther passes near the gorge of the _Oued
Metchkâna_, which lies a little to the left. Here, beneath superb old
terebinths (p. 202), on the site of the old _Cemetery of Agadîr_
(‘Cimetière de Sidi Yacoub’), are situated the pretty kubba of _Sidi
Wahhâb_, the oldest saint of this region, said to have been a companion
of the prophet, and the so-called _Tombeau de la Sultane_, a dilapidated
octagonal domed building (12th cent.?), which served in 1412 as a tomb
for a Ziyanide princess.
The ruins of =Agâdir= (p. 187) may be reached in about 10 min. from the
Porte de l’Abattoir (Pl. D, 1; p. 191) by the old Safsaf road to the
N.E. (p. 185). Of the chief mosque founded here by Idris I. (p. 95) the
only relic is the elegant *_Minaret_, 105 ft. in height, erected by
Yarmorâsen at the same time as the tower of the Great Mosque (p. 190).
The substructures, 19 ft. high, composed of Roman blocks of stone from
the ancient Pomaria, and with Roman inscriptions built into them outside
and in the staircase, probably belonged to an earlier minaret.—A little
to the E., beyond the ravine, are preserved a few fragments of the _E.
Wall_ of Agâdir built by the Berbers. A few paces to the N. of the road
rises the handsome _Kubba of Sidi’d-Dâoudi_ (d. 1011); the present
building is probably of the Merinide period.