Layout plan
[Picture source: © 1978 Michael Meinecke] [Picture source: © 1978 Michael Meinecke] The gem of the Jamiʿ al-Mihmandar is undoubtedly its minaret, which can be considered one of the most beautiful in Aleppo. (Fig. 2) As already mentioned, it forms one building block together with the adjacent portal.
The minaret emerges from the southwest corner of the mosque. The square base on the roof from which it rises bears an inscription on three sides. On the south side of the base, a sundial is still visible below the inscription panel. (Fig. 3) Triangles, decorated with geometrically intertwined bands, transform the rectangular base into an octagon. The shaft of the minaret rising from the base consists of three distinctly decorated segments. The lower octagonal portion is decorated with a flat round profile that forms niches. Above, the two cylindrical portions are adorned by bar motifs – vertical bars on the middle segment, zig-zag bars on the upper segment , crowned by the minaret’s gallery.[1] (Fig. 4)
Figure 5: Jamiʿ al-Mihmandar, portal [Picture source: © 2008 Lamia Jasser] The portal, to the left of the minaret, consists of a half dome with pendants of two layers of muqarnas cells in the corners. (Fig. 5)
On the right side of the entrance is an undated inscription, based on a famous hadith in the collection of Bukhari, banning the fabrication, exhibition and sale of images and statues.[2] (Fig. 6)
The entrance leads into the rectangular courtyard; on the south side we find the elongated rather narrow prayer hall (qibliyya) in seven bays. The third bay from the west is accentuated by a cupola, where the mihrab and the minbar, as well as a gallery above the door, are found. (Fig. 7) (Fig. 8)
Figure 9: Mihmandar Mosque, mihrab and minbar [Picture source: © 2008 Lamia Jasser] The historian Ibn al-ʿAjami mentions the minbar of yellow stone, suggesting, as Kühn argues, that it was installed in the qibliyya before 1480.[3] (Fig. 9) The installation of the minbar would mark the transformation of the mosque into a jamiʿ or Friday mosque. In the event it was installed later, it might be related to major construction activities, like the addition of the minaret and the portal. Further research is required to resolve this question. Beside the minbar is the mihrab, whose niche is flanked by two columns.
