Spiral minaret in Samarra. Tower of Babel in Samarra

Schengen

Samarra is an ancient city in Iraq, 124 km north of Baghdad, which is home to one of the tallest spiral mosques in the world.

The most famous page of life ancient city connected with the arrival of Muslims in these parts: in 836, due to unrest, the capital of the Caliphate, and with it the entire Islamic world, was moved from Baghdad to Samarra, where it remained until 892, after which it returned to Baghdad. This turn of history changed the face of the city - it turned into a major shopping center in which they were built beautiful palaces and mosques. So, in 847, the Great Mosque with a unique spiral minaret was built here - at that time the largest in the world.

And its minaret, built in 848-852 by the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakil, is still one of the highest today. Its spiral, 52 meters high, also serves as a staircase leading to the top.

Unlike most minarets, this one, due to its height, was not used as a call to prayer. However, visible enough long distance from Samara, the minaret has always served as a kind of statement of the presence of Islam in the Tigris River valley.

Samarra is a city in central Iraq, 120 km northwest of Baghdad, lying on east coast R. Tiger.

Founded in 836 by Caliph al-Mu'tasim of the Abbasid dynasty (son of the legendary Harun ar-Rashid); he, according to legend, also owns the authorship of the name (from the Arabic surra man ra’a, “whoever sees, rejoices”). In fact, settlements on the site of S. existed long before the official founding of the city. One of them, Surmarrati, mentioned in the inscription on the stele of Sennacherib (690 BC), apparently, was located in the area of al-Khuwaysh, opposite modern S. Late ancient sources indicate the existence of a settlement near S. under the name Souma. According to Ammian Marcellinus, in 364 (the retreat of the Roman army after the death of Emperor Julian), Fort Sumere was located on the site of the city. Modern name, most likely, goes back to the Aramaic Sumra (a village in the vicinity of S.; the toponym is recorded in the Chronicle of Michael the Syrian).

According to Arabic sources, in 834-835. Caliph al-Mu'tasim was forced to withdraw from Baghdad the military units of the Central Asian Turks (because of their conflicts with the local population) and start looking for a place for a new capital. The path of the Caliph ran north; during one of the halts, al-Mu'tasim discovered a Christian monastery not far from his camp. The garden of the monastery, especially liked by the caliph, became the site of the laying of the palace, known as Dar al-Khilafa (836); later the monastery entered the complex of palace buildings as a treasury.

Under the sons of al-Mu'tasim, al-Wasik (842-847) and al-Mutawakkil (847-861), S. not only retained the status of the capital of the caliphate, but also became an arena of intensive urban development. Within 20 years, 20 palaces were erected in the city and its environs, several parks and fenced hunting grounds were laid out; in addition, tracks/arenas were built for horse racing. According to the plan of al-Mutawakkil, the city was to surpass in splendor all the former capitals of the Caliphate. For example, in 861, the caliph ordered that a cypress planted by Zarathustra in honor of the conversion of King Gishtasp be cut down and delivered to S.; beams for the next caliph's palace were to be made of ancient wood (al-Mutawakkil was not alive by the time the precious trunk was delivered).

Clickable 1500 px,Excavations of the palace of the caliphs in Samarra, on the background mosque Mutavakkil and its minaret Malviya (shell).

One of the few well-preserved monuments of urban planning activity of al-Mutawakkil (848-852). This grandiose building with an area of approx. 38000 sq. m accommodated up to 80,000 worshipers and was the largest mosque in the Muslim ecumene. At the northern wall of the mosque, at the level of its middle, rises the pseudo-seven-tier minaret al-Malviyya (literally "twisted") - a cyclopean structure, which is a cone placed on a square base (the now missing wooden pavilion, installed on the upper platform, was the eighth tier). The visibility of the tiered structure is created by an external spiral staircase leading up from the base, the width of which (2.3 m) allowed the Caliph to enter the summit on horseback. The height of the minaret from the base to the upper platform is 53 m.

In 859, al-Mutawakkil laid new town 15 km north of S., to which he gave his name (al-Mutawakkiliya). Among the first, a building was erected, to which the architects gave an almost complete resemblance to the large cathedral mosque in S. This mosque, Abu Dulaf, is slightly inferior to its prototype in size (29,000 sq. M.); it also has a minaret (34 m) at the level of the middle of the northern wall (the outer spiral staircase of the Abu Dulaf minaret is steeper than that of al-Malviyya, it forms six pseudo-tiers). The reasons that prompted al-Mutawakkil to start building the city (in fact, replicas of S.) are not known. It is believed that the completion of the work should have been a signal for the transfer of the capital to a new location. With the death of the caliph in 861, construction work was stopped.

View from the spiral minaret of Samarra and Al-Aqsa Mosque Iraq.

For 56 years, during which S. was the capital, the caliph's throne was occupied by eight people. The eighth caliph, al-Mu'tamed (son of al-Mutawakkil), returned to Baghdad in 884, and with his death (892), the capital was officially moved to its original location. By 894 the city was severely depopulated; Caliph al-Muqtafi, who visited S. in 903, found the palace of al-Mutasim badly destroyed and the return of the capital he had planned did not take place.

In 848, al-Mutawakkil summoned to S. the tenth imam of the Shiites, Ali al-Hadi (“leading the right way”), who then lived in Medina (b. 827), and settled him in the territory of the former military camp al-Mutasim (hence the nickname al-Askari, i.e. "inhabitant of the camp", or "prisoner of the camp", which then passed to his son, the eleventh imam). Later, Ali al-Hadi bought a house near the old mosque of al-Mutasim, where he lived under public supervision until his violent death. Shiite tradition ascribes to the tenth imam knowledge of many languages (Persian, Slavic, Indian, Nabataean), sacred sciences (alchemy), the ability to foresee the future and perform miracles; he wrote a treatise on free will.

In 868 Ali al-Hadi died and was buried in the courtyard of his house; the imamate passed to his middle son Hasan (r. 845). According to legend, the eleventh imam, Hassan al-Askari, was married to Narjis Khatun, who came from the line of emperors of Byzantium and counted the Apostle Peter among her ancestors. The child from this marriage, the twelfth Imam of the Shiites (counting from Ali b. Abi Talib), was, according to the well-known prophecy of Muhammad, to appear as the expected (al-muntazar) Mahdi (mahdi - "guided in the right way") and Qaim (al- qa'im, "risen with a sword", also "raising the dead", i.e. "resurrector"). Arguing with fate, Caliph al-Mu'tamed tightened his control over Imam Hasan and made several attempts to kill him in order to prevent the emergence of a legitimate candidate for the Caliphate. The Shiites, in turn, tried to protect the imam and his family from contact with outsiders; however, in 874 Hasan al-Askari died (presumably from poisoning) and was buried next to his father. The tafsir attributed to him was published in Iran in the last century.

Mosque al-Askari in Samarra.

The Abbasids and their supporters triumphed in victory until it became clear that Imam Hasan still managed to leave an heir. The boy, who received the name Muhammad, was born in 868; the fact of his birth was kept secret from everyone except his closest associates. The mysterious child was seen in last time descending into the basement in the yard of his parents' house a year before his father's death. According to one of the versions that spread among the Shiites at that time, he was hidden by his father in Medina. From 874 to 941, Imam Muhammad b. Hassan led the Shia community through four intermediaries (safara; pl.), successively replacing each other; this period was called the "little concealment" (ghaybat al-sughra). In 941, a few days before his death, the fourth safir reported that the imam announced to him about the beginning of the “great concealment” (ghaybat al-kubra), the term of which is determined by God himself, in connection with which the institution of mediation is canceled, and some or contact with the community becomes impossible.

According to the Shiite creed, the "great cover-up" will last until the End Times; the return of the Mahdi will occur at a time when evil and injustice will triumph in the world, people will almost completely lose their idea of the sacred, and everything that connects a person with God will be close to extinction. Some traditions say that the appearance of the Mahdi will occur at the time of the planetary triumph of the Antichrist (al-dajjal). The final battle between the Mahdi warriors, including Imam Hussein and Hazrat Isa (i.e. Jesus of the Christian tradition), and the demonized humanity opposing them, who recognized the power of the Antichrist, takes on the clear outlines of a war of Light and Darkness, Good and Evil (literally Reason, aql, and Ignorance, jahl), and the imam himself is endowed with the qualities of an eschatological Savior.

Clickable 1600 px Walls of the Great mosques Mutawakkil.

The architectural complex of mashhad al-Askariyn (literally, “the place of confession of faith of the inhabitants of the camp”, i.e. imams Ali al-Hadi and Hassan al-Askari) consists of two buildings: a mausoleum-mosque crowned with a golden dome, to which two minarets are attached , and the sanctuary erected over the entrance to the sardab (cellar where the last imam disappeared in 873), known as maqam ghaybat ("place of hiding"); this second building also crowns the dome, but it is made not with gold, but with blue glaze. In the mausoleum, in addition to the imams, Khakima-Khatun, the sister of Ali al-Khadi, who preserved for posterity the circumstances of the birth and disappearance of the Mahdi, and Narjis-Khatun rest. The first structures over the graves of imams, erected in 944-45. under the Hamdanid Nasir-ad-Daula, they were rebuilt many times, incl. Arslan al-Basasiri under the Buyids (1053-54) and caliph Nasir li-Din-illah (1209-1210). The construction of the golden dome over the mausoleum of the tenth and eleventh imams was started by Shah of Iran Nasr-ad-Din (1868-1869) and completed under his successor Muzaffar-ad-Din (1905).

Clickable 1600 px, Mosque al-Askari in Samarra

Inaret al-Malviyya, which has become a kind of symbol of S. as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, is remarkable not so much for its architectural unusualness as for the symbolic connotations associated with it. A powerful base, comparable in size to the height of the minaret (a square with a side of 33 m), makes the building look like a pyramid, and the tiered structure is unequivocally associated with the ziggurat that Herodotus described, i.e. with the "House of the foundation of the heavens and the earth," the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:4). Especially indicative is the presence of an external staircase connecting the base and top of the minaret; in ziggurats, this architectural element was endowed with an important sacred function - the path of the deity's descent from heaven to earth. Jewish and Christian exegetes saw in the construction of the Tower of Babel the motive of theomachism. Medieval midrashim draw parallels between its construction and the rebellion of the “sons of God” Genesis 6:2 (2 En 7), which forced God to destroy the fallen creature with the Flood, and the idolater king Nimrod, who began construction, is likened to the fallen angel Shemhazai. In Muslim exegesis, especially in Persian tafsirs, Nimrod is not just a tyrant and idolater, who is opposed by the prophet Ibrahim (Abraham), but a violent adversary of God; having failed in the construction of the tower, he tries to fly up to heaven, and in response to an offer to repent, he challenges God to fight and dies. In the light of the clarifications made, giving the appearance of a ziggurat to the minaret of the capital's cathedral mosque cannot be perceived otherwise than as the self-identification of the Muslim caliph with the god-fighting king.

The minaret of al-Malviyya, from which calls to prayer have not sounded for a long time, and the giant rectangle of a large mosque lying at its foot, empty and abandoned, are a truly apocalyptic spectacle, making one think about the contrast between the now uninhabited S. caliphs and S. imams - always the crowded courtyard of the al-Askariyn mosque, crowned with a sparkling golden dome, and the residential areas located around.

If Mecca is a symbol of the beginning of the sacred history of Muslims (the black stone of the Kaaba is the angel who accompanied Adam after being expelled from Paradise, and the Kaaba itself is a temple rebuilt after the flood by Abraham and Ismail), S. is a harbinger of its accomplishment. The new Babylon of the Abbasids, conceived as one of the wonders of the world - a palace city that, in a little over ten years, spread flowering gardens on terraces and raised huge minarets-ziggurats into the sky - became a warning about the short duration and illusory nature that marked the triumph of secular power over spiritual dominion . In the blindness of their own pride, the caliphs erected their Tower of Babel, unable to foresee its coming desolation; with satanic cunning they exterminated the imams from the house of Ali, not knowing that their disappearance from the human plane of Existence is only a promise of the Great Return. S. Khalifas - dead city, a symbol of the insignificance of the worldly before the sacred, the mortal before the eternal, a monument of theomachism and recklessness. S. Imams continues to live, reminding us of Divine justice (one of the tenets of Shiite Islam), that the night, no matter how long it is, will inevitably give way to dawn.

But the most outstanding architectural gem, which glorified not only Samarra, but Iraq as a whole, was Grand Mosque- a gigantic building, which easily accommodated about 80,000 Muslims, who regularly flooded the area of \u200b\u200bthe holy place to perform prayers.

Today, little remains of this majestic building, but once it shook the imagination with its gigantic size and monumentality. Just imagine a huge courtyard, an impressive prayer hall and a tall minaret behind an impregnable wall with semicircular towers and sixteen entrances - all this in an area of 38,000 square meters.

The wall and other buildings of the ancient architectural ensemble decorated with glass mosaics in ultramarine tones, fine carvings and skillful stucco work. It took almost 4 years to create the Great Mosque - the complex was built from 847 to 852, and at the time the construction of the grandiose complex was completed, it was the largest and most outstanding building among all Islamic buildings.

Clickable

The wall of the mosque and the minaret of Malviya, famous throughout the world for its height and intricate shape, have survived to this day.

The width of the stairs is 2.3 m - such a distance easily allowed al-Mutawakkil to get to the highest turn of the ramp astride a sacred white Egyptian donkey. From there, from the top, a marvelous panorama opens up to the surroundings of the city and the valley of the Tigris River. The name of the minaret means "twisted shell", which refers to the spiral staircase that winds along the walls of the minaret.

Depending on the time of day and under the influence of lighting, the walls of the mosque and the minaret are transformed, acquiring either straw, amber, brick, or golden-pink hues. An architectural object of rare beauty is under the protection of UNESCO and is included in the register of monuments that make up world heritage.

Alas, the unique building, miraculously preserved to our era, had to suffer pretty much already in the current century. In April 2005, Iraqi insurgents attempting to remove an American observation post on top of the minaret staged an explosion that partially destroyed the top of the tower.

The Great Mosque of Samarra (Samarra, Iraq)

Samarra is an ancient city in Iraq, 124 km north of Baghdad, which is home to one of the tallest spiral mosques in the world.

The most famous page in the life of the ancient city is associated with the arrival of Muslims in these parts: in 836, due to unrest, the Abassid caliph al-Mu'tasim was forced to move the capital of the Caliphate, and with it the entire Islamic world, from Baghdad to Samarra, where it remained until 892, after which she again returned to Baghdad. This turn of history changed the face of the city - it turned into a major trading center, where beautiful palaces and mosques were built.

The mosque began to be built in 848 and completed in 852 already during the reign of his son, Caliph Al-Mutawakkil.

Today, little remains of this majestic structure, but once it shook the imagination with its gigantic size and monumentality. Just imagine a huge courtyard, an imposing prayer hall and a tall minaret behind an impregnable wall with semicircular towers and sixteen entrances - all this in an area of 38,000 square meters, which easily accommodated 80,000 people.

The wall of the mosque and the minaret of Malviya, famous throughout the world for its height and intricate shape, have survived to this day. A cone-shaped structure with a spiral staircase rises on a square pedestal with sides of 33 meters, wrapping around Malvia along its entire 52-meter height - from a wide base to a narrow top - and, it seems, screwing into the very heavens. The mosque consists of 17 rows, the wall and other buildings of the ancient architectural ensemble are decorated with glass mosaics in ultramarine tones, fine carvings and skillful stucco molding.

The width of the stairs is 2.3 m - such a distance easily allowed al-Mutawakkil to get to the highest turn of the ramp astride a revered white Egyptian donkey. From there, from the top, a marvelous panorama opens up to the surroundings of the city and the valley of the Tigris River. The name of the minaret means "twisted shell", which refers to the spiral staircase that winds along the walls of the minaret.

Depending on the time of day and under the influence of lighting, the walls of the mosque and the minaret are transformed, acquiring either straw, amber, brick, or golden-pink hues.

The Ibn Tulun Mosque in Cairo was built on the model of the Great Mosque in Samarra.

The complex of the Grand Mosque is under the protection of UNESCO, among other antiquities of Samarra, which together form a World Heritage Site.

Had there not been riots in Baghdad that forced the Abassid caliph al-Mu'tasim to think about searching for suitable place for a new capital, this city would never arise and never see the world a striking example of Muslim architecture, known as the Great Mosque of Samarra.

It was decided to build a new capital city at a distance of 124 km north of Baghdad, and over the years the city was intensively built and developed, confirming its capital status. For 56 years - from 836 to 892. Samarra remained the capital of the caliphate, during which time it became a bustling commercial center, the squares of which were decorated fairytale palaces, picturesque parks and hunting grounds.

The father's work was continued by his son, Caliph al-Mutawakkil, who invested a lot of effort and money in the prosperity of Samarra. But the most outstanding architectural jewel, which glorified not only Samarra, but Iraq as a whole, was the Great Mosque - a gigantic building that easily accommodated about 80,000 Muslims who regularly flooded the square of the holy place to perform prayers.

Today, little remains of this majestic building, but once it shook the imagination with its gigantic size and monumentality. Just imagine a huge courtyard, an imposing prayer hall and a tall minaret behind an impregnable wall with semicircular towers and sixteen entrances - all this in an area of 38,000 square meters.

The wall and other buildings of the ancient architectural ensemble are decorated with glass mosaics in ultramarine tones, fine carvings and skillful stucco molding. The creation of the Grand Mosque took almost 4 years - the complex was built from 847 to 852, and at the time the construction of the grandiose complex was completed, it was the largest and most outstanding building among all Islamic buildings.

The wall of the mosque and the minaret of Malviya, famous throughout the world for its height and intricate shape, have survived to this day. On a square pedestal with sides of 33 meters, a cone-shaped structure rises with a spiral staircase wrapping around Malvia along its entire 52-meter height - from a wide base to a narrow top - and, it seems, screwing into the very heavens.