Great Mosque of Nedroma

Great Mosque of Nedroma
الجامع الكبير بندرومة
Religion
Affiliation	Islam
Location
Municipality	Nedroma
Country	Algeria
Shown within Northern Algeria
Geographic coordinates	35.0029°N 01.4449°E / 35.0029; 01.4449
Architecture
Type	mosque

Great Mosque (Arabic: الجامع الكبير) or the Great Mosque of Nedroma (Arabic: الجامع الكبير بندرومة) is a historic mosque in the city of Nedroma, about 77km from Tlemcen, Algeria. The mosque was founded in 1145 and contains the earliest surviving Almoravid minbar.

Architecture

The mosque, as is with the other Almoravid religious buildings of the same era, follows the similar construction plan. The plan consists of a rectangular sahn in the middle surrounded by walls and a nave perpendicular with the qibla wall. The prayer hall contains nine naves equally distributed to the south of the central nave. Three naves are connected to the short side of the sahn and forming a gallery. The longest side of the sahn runs parallel with the qibla wall and it is enclosed by the gallery.

From the top, the building is rectangular shaped and covered with the roof of tiled slopes which are parallel to one another. The central roof is slightly wider and ends with a cross vault above the mihrab. Horseshoe arch rests on the pillars which divide the naves. The mihrab does not contain any decorations. The minaret did not exist initially, and it was added later in 1348 according to the scripture available inside the prayer hall.

The date of construction is inscribed on the minbar commissioned specifically for the mosque, and on the part of the marble which is used for the minaret.

See also

• Lists of mosques
• List of mosques in Africa
• List of mosques in Algeria

Bibliography

• Bourouiba, R., Apports de l’Algérie à l’architecture religieuse arabo-islamique, Alger : OPNA, 1956.
• Marçais, G., L’architecture musulmane d’occident, Tunisie, Algérie, Espagne et Sicile, Paris : Arts et Métiers Graphiques, 1957, p. 87.