Renovation and refurbishment

[Picture source: © 2018 Nabil Kasbo]

The Great Mosque of Aleppo has been exposed to much destruction over the centuries, notably due to acts of war, to fires and earthquakes, but it has been continuously renovated and refurbished.

In the 2nd century AH / 8th century AD, the mosque was damaged by the Abbasids, who followed the Umayyad dynasty, and then, in the 4th century AH / 10th century AD, by the neighbouring Byzantines under Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas.[1]

1. First reparation work was done by Hamadanid rulers in the 4th century AH / 10th century AD (for this and the following numbers, see picture 2). The Aleppine chronicler Ibn Shaddad (d. 684 AH / 1285 AD) mentions an inscription on the ablutions fountain, which indicated the name of Sayf al-Dawla – illustrious Hamdanid ruler of the Emirate of Aleppo – and the date 354 AH / 965 AD.[2] The Aleppine chronicler al-Ghazzi (d. 1933) states that the inscription was removed in the 19th century as today’s form is from the Ottoman period.[3]
2. The Seljuks built the minaret of the Great Mosque in the 5th century AH / 11th century AD; it is claimed to have replaced an older one.[4]
3. In the 6th century AH / 12th century AD, an attack of Ismailis, as well as earthquakes, caused damage to the minaret. Due to this, Nur al-Din Zangi restored the mosque and replaced many of the then existing columns of the arcades with new stones from the quarry of Baʿadin[5] northeast of Aleppo. He also expanded the eastern part of the prayer hall.[6]
4. The Ayyubid sultan al-Zahir Ghazi (d. 613 AH / 1216 AD) renewed the plastering of the southern wall of the prayer hall and fixed the ceiling of the western arcade.[7]
5. In the 7th century AH / 13th century AD, after the Mongols under Hulagu Khan had attacked Aleppo and damaged the Great Mosque, the Mamluks extensively rebuilt it, replacing the wooden ceiling of the prayer hall by stone vaults on [8] The mihrab was replaced by the Mamluk sultan Qalawun; his name is indicated above the present one, together with that of his governor, the Mamluk prince Qarasunqur al-Jukandar, and the date 684 AH / 1285 AD (see picture 8):

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم أمر بعمارته بعد حريقه مولانا السلطان الأعظم الملك المنصور سيف الدنيا والدين قلاوون أعز الله نصره

بالإشارة العالية المولوية الأميرية الشمسية قراسنقر الجوكندار الملكي المنصوري

كافل المملكة الحلبية المحروسة أثابه الله وحرسه وتملا من عنده في رجب سنة أربع وثمانين وستمائة[9]

“In the name of God, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. It was commanded to be built, after it was burned, by Our Master the Greatest Sultan al-Malik al-Mansur Sayf al-Dunya wa l-Din Qalawun, may God enhance his victory.

By the high advice of the Master al-Amir Shams al-Din Qarasunqur al-Jukandar al-Maliki al-Mansuri.

The governor of the guarded principality of Aleppo, may God reward and guard him, in the month of Rajab, in the year six hundred and eighty-four [September 1285 AD]”.[10]

Qarasunqur renovated a maqsura – a screened off area for exclusive use inside the prayer hall – between the main prayer niche and the western one[11]; it is no longer extant.

6. The unique wooden minbar, or pulpit, also belongs to the Mamluk era as indicated by the inscribed name of the Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad, son of Qalawun (d. 741 AH / 1341 AD). The carpenter’s name is Muhammad ibn ʿAli al-Mawsili.[12]
7. In connection with the Mamluk minbar of al-Nasir Muhammad, another screened area for exclusive use was made west of the maqsura of Qarasunqur, called “Maqsurat al-Wali” – “Governor’s Compartment”.[13] It is no longer extant.
8. The small khatib (orator) room on the right side of the wooden minbar has a matching wooden door and above it a stone inscription stating that the room was renovated by the Mamluk prince Yalbugha during the reign of Sultan al-Salih ʿImad al-Din Abu l-Fida Ismaʿil in 746 AH / 1345 AD.[14]
9. The wooden ceiling of the western courtyard arcade was replaced by stone vaults during Mamluk times in the 15th century.[15]
10. At the last bay in the east of the northern arcade, there is a door opening leading to the outside of the mosque, decorated with Mamluk style ablaq (alternating black, white and yellow stone masonry): this is the only part that remained from the Madrasa Dar al-Quran al-ʿAshaʾiriyya (see picture 9).[16] Al-Ghazzi described it first hand, which means the madrasa still existed in the 1920s.[17]
11. During Ottoman times, several restorations were implemented by Ottoman governors and unknown donors in favour of the prayer hall and its interior, the courtyard, and the arcades. In 996 AH / 1587–88 AD, a mihrab inside the prayer hall, next to the southern entrance, was made by a local qadi (judge) as inscribed on the pillar next to it. This mihrab no longer exists. Herzfeld mentions another inscription inside the Maqsurat al-Qadi belonging to the Mamluk prince Yalbugha.[18]
12. The portal of the prayer hall was rebuilt in 1039 AH / 1629–30 AD as mentioned in the inscription with the names of Sultan Murad IV and Grand Vizier Gazi Husrev Pasha (see picture 10).[19]
13. The courtyard paving was repaired in 1042 AH / 1632–33 AD.[20]
14. The shrine room of the Prophet Zakariya was renovated and decorated according to the long inscription above it dated 1120 AH / 1708 AD.[21]
15. The facade of the prayer hall was damaged by the massive earthquake of 1237 AH / 1822 AD and restored in the same year.[22]
16. A horizontal sundial was installed in the courtyard in 1297 AH /1881 AD as inscribed on it.
17. The western arcade was damaged and rebuilt by Jamil Pasha, governor of Aleppo, on the order of the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II; both are mentioned in the inscription on the arcade, dated 1302 AH / 1884 AD.[23] Jamil Pasha also renovated the main fountain in that year.[24]
18. Al-Hijaziyya, an additional prayer hall at the northeastern corner of the Great Mosque (presently, a women’s prayer hall), was expanded[25] in 1326 AH / 1908 AD as inscribed above its entrance gate[26]. The medieval Aleppine historian Sibt Ibn al-ʿAjami (d. 1479) was the first to mention it.[27]
19. The southern entrance of the prayer hall was refurbished during the rule of Sultan Abdul Hamid II in 1327 AH / 1909 AD, as inscribed above the portal.[28]
20. The northern part of the corbelled Mamluk cornice that runs around the four courtyard facades was rebuilt in 1343 AH / 1924–25 AD, during the first years of the French mandate in Syria, by Muhammad Yahya al-Kayyali, the director of the endowments in Aleppo, as inscribed on the northern arcade.
21. In the 1950s, old houses at the northern side of the mosque were removed to open up space towards the modern wide Jamiʿ al-Umawi Street. It seems that the Madrasa Dar al-Quran al-ʿAshaʾiriyya was removed as well.
22. The northern entrance was widely renovated and decorated in 1953 along with the outside facade at the northern side of the Great Mosque.[29]

From 1999 to 2005, the Great Mosque was subject of a comprehensive restoration and rehabilitation project, particularly for the minaret, due to its leaning towards the northwest by 93 cm. The project assessed the condition of the mosque’s pillars, walls, foundations, floors, etc., drew architectural plans, documented the minaret by photogrammetry, and eventually appropriate repairs were implemented. An expert committee was installed to supervise the project. It decided to strengthen the foundation of the minaret without fixing the leaning, so the whole structure of the minaret was reinforced.

In 2012, the armed conflict started in Aleppo and subsequently the Great Mosque suffered damages. The Seljuk minaret, which had been standing for more than 900 years and even survived the massive earthquake in 1822, collapsed in 2013 during fighting in the Old City of Aleppo.

Figure 7. Great Mosque, minaret, foundation inscriptions on the base [Picture source: © 2006 Rami Alafandi]