Towards an Understanding of the Local Interpretations of the Arab Mosque Model in the Saharan Regions. Re-exploration of the Ziban in South-Eastern Algeria

Sami Zerari, Vincenzo Pace, Leila Sriti

Abstract


The architecture of the Arab mosque has been interpreted in two different ways. In major capitals, the mosques were constructed under the patronage of the rulers, who have given them a monumental appearance. It was the time of the emergence of the so-called “Hispano-Maghreb” or “Hispano-Moorish” style that reflected the potency and the prestige of the rulers. In contrast, in villages and hamlets, the adoption of the Arab mosque model was a vernacular art, as is the case in the Saharan regions of Algeria. This article investigates the local interpretations of the Arab mosque model by taking the vernacular mosques of the Ziban region as a case study. The research followed both historical and visual approaches, and the data were collected from travelogues, graphic documents, architectural surveys, old and current photographs, and the interrogation of the residents. The findings demonstrated that the early mosque of Okba Ibn Nafaa served as a generative model for subsequent mosques in the Ziban. It gave birth to the “Saharan style,” which is characterised by the use of vernacular building materials of clay and palm wood. In addition, the investigation revealed that the reuse of Roman ruins is a very old practice in the Ziban, as evidenced by the many mosques located in the ksour near the Limes line.


Parole chiave


Arab mosque model; the Ziban; Algeria; Saharan style; clay; palm wood.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.14633/AHR384

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Copyright (c) 2023 Sami Zerari; Vincenzo Pace; Leila Sriti

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ArcHistoR è una rivista open access e peer reviewed (double blind), di Storia dell’architettura e Restauro, pubblicata dall’Università Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria. La rivista ha cadenza semestrale. È una rivista di Classe A (ANVUR) per l’Area 08 - Ingegneria civile ed Architettura, settori C1, D1, E1, E2, F1.

Comitato scientifico internazionale

Maria Dolores Antigüedad del Castillo-Olivares (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia de España), Monica Butzek (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz), Jean-François Cabestan (Université Paris 1 - Panthéon Sorbonne), Alicia Cámara Muñoz (Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia de España), David Friedman (Massachussets Institute of Technology), Alexandre Gady (Université Paris-IV-Sorbonne), Jörg Garms (Universität Wien), Miles Glenndinning (Scottish Centre for Conservation Studies, University of Edinburgh), Mark Wilson Jones (University of Bath), Loughlin Kealy (University College Dublin), Paulo Lourenço (Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho), David Marshall (University of Melbourne), Werner Oechslin (ETH, Zurich, Stiftung Bibliothek Werner Oechslin, Einsiedeln), José Luis Sancho (Dirección de Conservación de Bienes Histórico-Artísticos, Palacio Real, Madrid), Dmitrij O. Švidkovskij (Moscow Architectural Institute, MARCHI)

Comitato direttivo

Tommaso Manfredi (direttore responsabile), Giuseppina Scamardì (direttore editoriale), Antonello Alici, Salvatore Di Liello, Fabrizio Di Marco, Paolo Faccio, Mariacristina Giambruno, Bruno Mussari, Annunziata Maria Oteri, Francesca Passalacqua, Edoardo Piccoli, Renata Prescia, Nino Sulfaro, Fabio Todesco, Guglielmo Villa

 

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Laboratorio CROSS. Storia dell'architettura e Restauro

    

      

 ISSN 2384-8898

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic License.