Great Mosque of Samarra
The Great Mosque of Samarra is an Iraqi mosque that dates back to the ninth century CE. It was the biggest mosque in the world when it was first built. It is well-known for its spiral ramp-encircled, 52 meters (171 feet) tall minaret. The Samarra Archaeological City, a 15,058-hectare UNESCO World Heritage Site that was nominated in 2007, contains the mosque. The mosque has 17 aisles and panels of dark blue glass mosaics on its walls. It was a component of Samarra's eastward expansion. The mosque's art and architecture had a significant impact; floral and geometric stucco decorations inside the mosque depict early Islamic ornamentation.
A wall made of baked bricks with forty-four semi-circular towers supporting it surrounds the mosque's main building on all sides. There are 28 windows in the outside wall. Twenty-four of them are facing the qiblah, which is on the southeast side. With the exception of the mihrab location, there is one window for each aisle. There are a total of sixteen doorways that allow entry to the building. The mosque's interior has a sizable courtyard that is enclosed on all sides by covered aisles. A large mihrab framed as an arch could be seen in the prayer room. The courtyard's focal point was a fountain that was surrounded by marble tile and mosaic decorations.
The Great Mosque of Samarra depicted a rectangle courtyard enclosed by these two tiers of walls, as opposed to the square courtyard that was customary for mosques. Historians and architects are aware that the mosque's walls are made of glass or glazed panels. These would be painted in the customary blues, whites, and golds found in several other mosques. Archaeologists examining the mosques have uncovered fragments of these panels. The large mosque at Samarra was built with a combination of baked and sun-dried brick, and wood served as the roof. Marble and gold are utilized in the mihrab. Additionally, research into the Great Mosque of Samarra demonstrated how the world was spared in terms of adornment.
Location: Malwiyah Mosque, Samerra, Iraq
