Talha Mosque or Qubbat Talha (), one of the oldest mosques in

Sana'a Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...

(

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

), was built by order of the Ottoman

Wali The term ''wali'' is most commonly used by Muslims to refer to a saint, or literally a "friend of God".John Renard, ''Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008); John ...

Hadji Mehmed Pasha from 1619 to 1620, during the first Ottoman occupation. 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 ...

was built at the same time.

History

In 1831 and 1832 the mosque was partially restored by order of

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

al-Mahdi Abdallah, the son of al-Mutawakkil Ahmad, as evidenced by the inscription in the prayer hall. The Talha Mosque was built 23 years after the construction of the

Al-Bakiriyya Mosque Bakiriyya Mosque is a mosque constructed in Sana'a around 1596–97 by the Ottoman governor of Yemen, Hasan Pasha. The mosque fell into disrepair after the Ottomans were driven out of Yemen in 1626 but was fully restored when the Ottomans ...

and uses some of the same stylistic features. Due to the small size of the prayer hall and the short minaret, the Talha Mosque seems quite appropriate to the general style of Sana'a mosques among the narrow streets of

Old City District The Old City of Sanaʽa is a recognised UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Amanat Al Asimah Governorate, Yemen. As of 2003, the district had a population of 63,398 inhabitants. The old fortified city has been inhabited for more than 2,500 years ...

. But, like the

, it is also an example of Ottoman architecture, successfully combining the different architectural styles of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

and

. The mosque is a complex that includes a prayer hall,

, courtyard, rooms for bathing, swimming pool and

hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life b ...

. The entrance to the mosque is preceded by a four-dome

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

with two arched walkways. Unlike Al-Bakiriyya Mosque, Talha Mosque does not feature additional enlargements (outbuildings). The prayer hall of the mosque therefore forms rectangle. The semi-circular dome of the prayer hall is decorated with stucco and rests on an octagonal drum, surrounded by four octagonal corner towers, also decorated with

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

. Each face in the center drum has an arched window that serves as an additional source of light of the prayer hall. The prayer hall of the Talha Mosque does not have the traditional Yemeni mosques wooden coffered ceiling and columns as the square, as per plan, in Al-Bakiriyya Mosque. Support drum and

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

at the expense of small-vaulted arched sails. The

is located next to the prayer hall, on the southeast corner. Relatively low, it stands on a rectangular base. Interesting in its own decor minaret. There used rather peculiar favorite decorative motif of

- four-sided diamond (rhombus), which is considered the same protective amulet. Here it is used not as usual - vertically and horizontally around balcony. Under the balcony just as interesting stylized floral motif, reminiscent of

sorghum ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...

. Talha Mosque located in the western part of

, in the

, and often falls into the camera frame. Her short minaret at a certain angle looks like a pinnacle on the dome of the mosque.

History

See also

References

Further reading