The Sidi Darghut Mosque (), also known as the Jama Sidi Darghut, is a

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

, located in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis (from , meaning "three cities") may refer to: Places Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in the Pelasgiotis district, Thessaly, near Larissa ...

Libya Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...

. It was built in approximately 1560 CE by

Dragut Dragut (; 1485 – 23 June 1565) was an Ottoman corsair, naval commander, governor, and noble. Under his command, the Ottoman Empire's maritime power was extended across North Africa. Recognized for his military genius, and as being among "the ...

on the site of a Hospitaller church, parts of which were incorporated into the mosque. The mosque was damaged in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and it was subsequently repaired, although the reconstruction was not completely faithful to its original design.

History

The Sidi Darghut Mosque was built in by the Ottoman governor

, shortly after the 1551 recapture of Tripoli from the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

. The site of the mosque was formerly occupied by the Hospitaller church or chapel. The church had survived the 1551 siege, and Dragut personally chose this site to build his mosque. According to local tradition, the church building was retained intact and incorporated into the mosque. After Dragut was killed whilst attacking the Hospitallers in the

Great Siege of Malta The Great Siege of Malta (Maltese language, Maltese: ''L-Assedju l-Kbir'') occurred in 1565 when the Ottoman Empire attempted to conquer the island of Malta, then held by the Knights Hospitaller. The siege lasted nearly four months, from 18 May t ...

in 1565, his body was taken to Tripoli and buried in the mosque. A number of alterations were carried out to the mosque by Iskander Pasha in the early 1600s, including the remodelling of the

minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

and the construction of a

hammam A hammam (), also often called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited from the model ...

(or at least the renovation of an existing one). The Superintendence of Monuments and Excavations made an accurate survey of the site in 1921. The building was restored in the 1920s, although it was bombarded during

and the central part of the building (which had been the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

) was severely damaged. Reconstruction works were undertaken by Ali Mohamed Abu Zaian, and the rebuilt mosque contains a number of differences from the original building. Armed men attempted to vandalise the mosque several times during the 2014 violence in Libya, and were repelled.

Architecture

The Sidi Darghut Mosque was the first Ottoman style mosque to be built in Tripoli. The building has a T-shaped prayer hall, with a plan bearing some similarities to mosques found in

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. The Hospitaller church was a small rectangular building with timber beams supporting a flat roof, and when it was converted into a mosque new wings were added on either side of the original building. The mosque is set within a trapezoidal enclosure which includes other facilities including a cemetery. The prayer hall has a roof which originally consisted of 27 small cupolas (32 after the postwar reconstruction). This element is typical of traditional Libyan architecture, and it later became a common element in mosques built in the area. The mosque includes two

mihrab ''Mihrab'' (, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "''qibla'' wall". ...

s, and a number of tombs including that of Dragut and his family are found near one of them. The mosque also includes a fountain for ablution (known as a ''midha'') and a

which was remodelled by Iskander Pasha in 1602.

References

External links

{{Mosques in Libya 16th-century mosques in Libya 21st-century attacks on mosques Church buildings of the Knights Hospitaller Former Roman Catholic churches in Libya Mosque buildings with domes in Libya Mosque buildings with minarets in Libya Mosques converted from churches in the Ottoman Empire Mosques completed in the 1560s Religious buildings and structures completed in 1560 Mosques in Tripoli, Libya Ottoman mosques in Libya Sunni mosques in Libya

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links