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Qal'at Bani Hammad ( ar, قلعة بني حماد), also known as Qal'a Bani Hammad or Qal'at of the Beni Hammad (among other variants), is a fortified palatine city in
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
. Now in ruins, in the 11th century, it served as the first capital of the Hammadid dynasty. It is in the
Hodna Mountains The Hodna Mountains ( ar, جبال حضنة, french: Monts du Hodna) are a mountain massif in northeastern Algeria. It rises on the northern side of the Hodna natural region in the M'Sila Province, near the town of Maadid around 200 km sou ...
northeast of
M'Sila M'sila (also spelled Msila) ( ar, المسيلة); is the capital of M'Sila Province, Algeria, and is co-extensive with M'sila District. It has a population of 132,975 as per the 2008 census. M'sila University is also located in this city. Hist ...
, at an elevation of , and receives abundant water from the surrounding mountains. The site is near the town of Maadid (aka Maadhid), about southeast of
Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...
, in the
Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
. In 1980, it was inscribed as a
World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
by
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...
under the name Al Qal'a of Beni Hammad, and described as "an authentic picture of a fortified Muslim city". The town includes a long line of walls. Inside the walls are four residential complexes, and the largest mosque built in Algeria after that of Mansurah. It is similar in design to the Grand Mosque of Kairouan, with a tall minaret, . Excavations have brought to light numerous terracotta, jewels, coins and ceramics testifying to the high level of civilization under the Hammadid dynasty. Also among the artifacts discovered are several decorative fountains using the lion as a motif. The remains of the emir's palace, known as Dal al-Bahr, include three separate residences separated by gardens and pavilions.


History

The fortress was built in 1007 by Hammad ibn Buluggin, the son of Buluggin ibn Ziri, and the founder of
Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques d ...
. The city became the capital of the Hammadid
Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–19 ...
s, and sustained a siege from the Zirid in 1017. In 1090 it was abandoned under the menace of the
Banu Hilal The Banu Hilal ( ar, بنو هلال, translit=Banū Hilāl) was a confederation of Arabian tribes from the Hejaz and Najd regions of the Arabian Peninsula that emigrated to North Africa in the 11th century. Masters of the vast plateaux of t ...
, and was partly destroyed by the
Almohads The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the unity of God) was a North African Berber Muslim empire ...
in 1152. The Qalaa was described by Al-Bakri in the 11th century as a large and powerful military stronghold and a centre of commerce that attracted caravans from all over the Maghreb, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and the Hejaz. Ibn Khaldun also noted that the abundance of travellers was due to the wealth of resources offered to those interested in sciences, commerce and arts. The Qala attracted poets, sages and theologians. The architecture of the Hammadids even influenced that of the Normans. Excavations began in 1908, resumed from 1952-1956 and continue to this day as most of the site remains unexplored and the aspects of the palaces await further study.Islamic Palace Architecture in the Western Mediterranean: A History
Felix Arnold Oxford University Press


Architecture


Overview

The Qalaa was described by Al-Bakri in the 11th century as a large and powerful military stronghold and a centre of commerce that attracted caravans from all over the Maghreb, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and the Hejaz. Ibn Khaldun also noted that the abundance of travellers was due to the wealth of resources offered to those interested in sciences, commerce and arts. The Qala attracted poets, sages and theologians. The architecture of the Hammadids even influenced that of the Normans.L. Hadda, Zirid and Hammadid palaces in North Africa and its influence on Norman architecture in Sicily
in Word, Heritage and Knowledge, a cura di C. Gambardella, XVI Forum International di Studi-Le vie dei Mercanti, Napoli-Capri 14-16 giugno 2018, Roma 2018, pp. 323-332


Palaces

Hammadid emirs constructed five palaces, most of which are now destroyed. The
keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...
of the Palace of the Fanal (''Qasr al-Manar'') does survive.Jeff Huebner, "Al Qal'a of Beni Hammad (M'sila, Algeria)" in ''Middle East and Africa: International Dictionary of Historic Places'' (Vol. 4) (eds. K.A. Berney, Trudy Ring & Noelle Watson: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1996), pp. 36-39. The upper palace consists of three buildings arranged around an irregularly shaped forecourt: a private apartment, a domed hall and an entrance wing.Islamic Palace Architecture in the Western Mediterranean: A History
Felix Arnold Oxford University Press
Other palaces such as the Qasr al-Kawab and Qasr al-Salam were constructed by the Hammadids. The Qasr al-Salam likely served as the residence of the rulers family and this structure summarises many aspects of typical Hammadid architecture. The Qasr al-Manar is another palace, its layout has resemblance to the Upper palace and Qasr al-Salam as its main elements are composed of a forecourt with an audience hall and a private apartment both surrounded with T-shaped pillared porticos.


Dar al-Bahr, the Lake Palace

The Dar al-Bahar which is located nearby the congregational mosque was most likely used for public audiences and/or the palace of the Emir. The eastern court occupied by a large water basin inspired the name of the palace. Located between two courtyards is the main reception room and a domed hall is located north of the water court. The outer walls consist of buttresses varying in design. As for the water courtyard the court is 71 meters long and 51 meters wide while the basin is 68 meters long, 48 meters wide and 1.3 meters deep. The courtyard was surrounded on all sides by T-shaped pillared porticos. The Dar al-Bahr palace was named for its rectangular pool, which measured . A ramp at one end of the pool was used to launch boats. References to nautical displays in this pool appear in the accounts of contemporary visitors. The pool was surrounded by a portico, and accessed through a monumental entrance on the east side. West of the pool was an elevated terrace and courtyard with gardens. Outside the walls of the palace complex, gardens extended east-to-west across the city, and to a depth of nearly . The gardens have not yet been explored by archeologists, although ornamental fountains have been discovered.


Mosque

The Hammadid mosque is said to have been the largest mosque constructed in North Africa prior to the twentieth century and it features the typical Maghreb style square minaret.Early Islamic North Africa: A New Perspective
By Corisande Fenwick
In Qalaat Beni Hammad, the
minaret A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گل‌دسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generall ...
, in height, is the only remaining part of the ruined Great Mosque; the structure bears some resemblance to
Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...
's
Giralda The Giralda ( es, La Giralda ) is the bell tower of Seville Cathedral in Seville, Spain. It was built as the minaret for the Great Mosque of Seville in al-Andalus, Moorish Spain, during the reign of the Almohad dynasty, with a Renaissance-style ...
.


Decoration

Architecture in Qalaat Beni Hammad featured adornments of "
porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises main ...
mosaics A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
of many-colored
faience Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an oxide of tin to the slip of a lead glaze, was a major ...
, sculpted panels and plaster, enameled
terra-cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...
stalactites A stalactite (, ; from the Greek 'stalaktos' ('dripping') via ''stalassein'' ('to drip') is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble ...
; building and pottery ornamentation consisted of geometric designs and stylized floral motifs." In the Qal’at Beni Hammad fragments of stucco were discovered from the Qasr al-Salam and the Qasr al-Manar which may be the oldest fragments of ''
muqarnas Muqarnas ( ar, مقرنص; fa, مقرنس), also known in Iranian architecture as Ahoopāy ( fa, آهوپای) and in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe, is a form of ornamented vaulting in Islamic architecture. It is the archetypal form of I ...
'' in the Western Islamic world, dating back to the 11th or 12th century. There are no earlier examples of muqarnas in the Islamic West. According to Lucien Golvin the fragments of the muqarnas semi-dome at the Qasr al-Salam are the oldest documented remains of a true ''muqarnas'' vault in the Islamic world. However, other scholars of Islamic architecture have questioned or rejected the dating of these fragments or their identification as true ''muqarnas''. Furthermore, the Qal’at buildings are considered to be documented antecedents and precursors to certain developments in Western Islamic art in the 12th century. Plaster capitals that were found at the Qal’at were composed of smooth leaves recurved in their upper part are considered to be an antecedent to the common Almoravid and Almohad forms which are seen in the Great Mosque of Tlemcen or in Tinmel. The framework of a marble basin and a grey marble fragment document the use of multifoil arches with spiral-form impost decoration. The use of this motif at the Qal’at subsequently spread during the times of the
Almoravids The Almoravid dynasty ( ar, المرابطون, translit=Al-Murābiṭūn, lit=those from the ribats) was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century that s ...
and became universal in Almohad buildings. The square rooms surrounded by rampant barrel vaults in the Qasr al-Manar have been compared to the Almohad minarets and the Torre Pisana in Palermo which it predates. The Hammadid palaces are also noted to contain the first or one of the first documented use of shadirwan.Constructions of Power and Piety in Medieval Aleppo
By Yasser Tabbaa


See also

History of medieval Arabic and Western European domes The early domes of the Middle Ages, particularly in those areas recently under Byzantine control, were an extension of earlier Roman architecture. The domed church architecture of Italy from the sixth to the eighth centuries followed that of the ...


References


External links


UNESCO Site for Al Qal'a of Beni Hammad

Site plan

Images of Qal'at Bani Hammad (Kalaa Beni Hammad)
in Manar al-Athar digital heritage photo archive {{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in the 11th century Archaeological sites in Algeria World Heritage Sites in Algeria Former populated places in Algeria Populated places established in the 11th century Castles in Algeria 11th-century establishments in Africa 11th-century disestablishments in Africa Hammadids Buildings and structures in M'Sila Province Moorish architecture Berber architecture