Ibn Tulun Mosque our 4th mosque article during the Holy month of Ramadan series of The history of the world’s great mosques is a rare example where Europeans openly admitted its influence on the development of many features of their architecture. Elements such as the pointed arch, the pier, and wall battlements formed the essential ingredients of the birth of Gothic architecture, which led Europe to the Renaissance.
Ibn Tulun Mosque is the oldest, best-preserved mosque in Egypt. It is named after the Emir Ahmed Ibn Tulun, a soldier among the troops of Samarra who was promoted to rule Egypt between 868 and 883AD.
Following the tradition of Muslim Caliphs, the first work of Ibn Tulun was to establish a new capital known as Qataia (869 CE) between Cairo and Fustat.
In its centre, he built a palace complex, a hippodrome, and a large mosque which became known by his name. According to the inscription found in the mosque, it was completed in May 879 CE.
Western sources, quoting Al-Maqrizi, claim that the architect of the mosque was an Egyptian Christian who proposed to employ piers as a substitute for the large number of columns necessary to support the roof span of this mosque’s magnitude. Fikri (1961 CE) dismissed this as another attempt to connect successful Muslim work to Christian origin. He argues that firstly, it is well known that Ibn Tulun lived in Samarra all his youth and he was clearly influenced by its prestige especially its Great Mosque of Al-Mutawakkil (848 CE).
This can be seen in the numerous common features of the two mosques. The first of these is the use of piers constructed of brick, instead of columns, to carry the arcades and the roof. Secondly, is the use of the same materials of construction such as brick and plaster. Thirdly is the spiral shape of the minaret and its location outside the perimeter of the mosque. An Egyptian Christian architect could not have by chance employed these features independently of Samarra. Fikri quoted Al-Maqrizi himself, in the same source, reporting another different story about the circumstances of the construction of the Mosque. He reported that Al-Qudhai narrated that Ibn Tulun asked for advice about: “the construction of a building that would stand the fire if the whole of Egypt was to be consumed by it, and stand a flood if the whole of Egypt was to be submerged by it.” He was told to build with plaster, ash and red brick, and not to erect any columns of marble as they do not stand well against fire. So he built it following their advice and made it and its minaret a copy of Samarra’s mosque.”
Mosque Architecture and its contribution
In addition to its historic importance, Ibn Tulun mosque is considered as one of the leading buildings to have a significant impact on the development of architecture beyond the Muslim boundaries. Its architectural richness exceeded the expectations of medieval architects, especially Europeans, henceforth becoming a show case for them to imitate and admire. The main architectural innovations of this mosque can be briefly summarised in the following:
- It was the first recorded instance of the systematic adoption of piers to carry the arcades and the roof as an alternative to columns. This was the first use of piers outside Samarra. The mosque employed some 160 piers of rectangular shape of about 2.5 meters height and about 1.25 meters width. They reach the same height of 5 meters all around the mosque (Figure 3). Such a feature could not have been achieved by the use of columns, which varied greatly in height and size and would have created problems in raising the arches to the same crown level. These piers were decorated at the corners with built in columns made of brick and plaster. Above them and between their arches a set of arched windows were opened to reduce the pressure of the thrust and provide extra light and air.
- The other feature was the systematic use of pointed arches which is regarded as the first recorded example although the pointed arch appeared earlier in Abbassid architecture in Ukhaidir Palace (Iraq, 778), the Alqsa Mosque (above), Ramlah Cistern (789) as well as Jussaq Al-Khaqani Palace (Samarra, 836). However, the mosque of Ibn Tulun remains the first building where the pointed arch was used constructively and systematically (Figure 4). This was at least two and a half centuries before it was introduced to Europe. Rice wrote “The pointed arch had already been used in Syria, but in the mosque of Ibn Tulun we have one of the earliest examples of its use on an extensive scale, some centuries before it was exploited in the West by the Gothic architects”. According to the same theory, Ibn Tulun Mosque was also the means through which the pier was transmitted to Europe. The transfer of these motifs to Europe is manifest through the strong links the Fatimids had during the 11th century with Amalfitan and Venetian traders who often visited Cairo and this monument.