Muzdalifah turns intoa gallery of Ottoman-era artifacts
The Abbasid-Ottoman era portico of the Grand Mosque will be
restoredafter completion of the ongoing Mataf expansion and the
largest ever expansion of Islams holiest mosque by the end of
2015.
Saturday, 19 April 2014
The holy site of Muzdalifah now houses a portion of the
Abbasid-Ottoman era portico of the Grand Mosque, waiting to be
restored after completion of the ongoing expansion of the Mataf
(circumambulation area) and the largest ever expansion of Islams
holiest mosque by the end of 2015.
Located 3.6 km west of Arafats Jabal Al-Rahmah (the Mount of
Mercy), there is a mammoth iron fenced compound in Muzdalifah where
these invaluable architectural artifacts have been kept since
demolition of the portico started in November 2012.
Currently, according to a report inMakkahdaily, hundreds of
architects and craftsmen are engaged in refurbishing these precious
pieces of history.
The mammoth Muzdalifah compound houses several huge warehouses,
wooden offices and several tons of materials in different shapes,
colors and weights. Nobody is allowed to enter the venue without
obtaining prior permission and an entry card.
For the past several months, only a few trucks carrying these
artifacts and licensed private cars have been granted entry into
the compound.
The domes and the hallway on the eastern section of the Grand
Mosque, which have already been removed, found a place in the
compound.
The Saudi Binladin Group, which is carrying out the massive
Grand Mosque expansion project, have entrusted the task of
restoring and refurbishing the Ottoman-era portico to Gursoy Group,
one of the leading Turkish companies specialized in restoration
work.
The late Ottoman rulers Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan
Selim II and his son Sultan Murad IV supervised the construction of
these porticos. This renovation resulted in the replacement of the
flat roof with domes decorated with internal calligraphy and
supported by new columns.
These domes and columns are acknowledged as the earliest
architectural features of the mosque.Gursoy Group specializes in
renovation of buildings, especially historical mosques in Turkey.
Their last project was the Sleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul.In the
Kingdom, the company has undertaken the monumental task of
performing maintenance and refurbishing of all pieces and parts of
the portico.
After a team inspected the mosque and determined which of the
porticos sections in the mosque are from the Ottoman era, they were
detached and packed up so they can be restored.
The companys workers carefully collected each piece, numbered
them and packed them in hundreds of wooden boxes. The pieces were
then shipped to Muzdalifah, where they will be pieced together.
The secret of the domesWhen exploring the mechanism used by the
Ottomans to build the domes, Saudi and Turkish companies discovered
the secrets of Islamic architecture.Experts from Gursoy said they
investigated the way in which the domes were built and concluded
that they have never seen such a method used in the past.They are
keen to preserve these artifacts in their full magnitude and
restore the portico with the same skillfulness it was built in the
10th century Hijri. Some of the columns of the portico date back to
the Abbasid period.A portion of the Abbasid-Ottoman era portico of
the Grand Mosque in Muzdalifah
Experts also found an immense variety of columns and pillars
used in the portico. Some of them bore the characteristics of
pre-Islamic Greek architecture and others date back to the Umayyad
and Abbasid periods. Most were from the Ottoman period. Diligent
craftsmen and technicians are doing a painstaking job to remove
dyeing materials used in previous renovation works from the Islamic
inscriptions and ornamental and decorative works in the interior
parts of the domes in order to restore them to their original
state.There are a lot of pillars, columns and boards bearing
inscriptions and writings chronicling their donations by caliphs,
sultans and kings during different phases of the expansion of the
Grand Mosque. Some of them date back more than 1,200 years. Their
restoration also highlights the evolution of various kinds of
Islamic calligraphy, artistic creativity and Islamic architecture.
2,754 Ottoman artifactsThe Grand Mosques Ottoman-era structure
consisted of about 2,754 historical pieces, including 496 marble
columns, 881 arches, 152 domes and 993 portions of
balconies.Turkish experts working on the restoration of the domes
described the architect who followed a unique method in their
construction as a genius. The architect was Sinan Pasha
(1499-1588), the father of Turkish architecture.Sultan Suleiman
(1520-1566) commissioned Sinan, his chief architect, to renovate
the mosque. This renovation resulted in the replacement of the flat
roof with domes decorated with calligraphy internally and the
placement of new support columns.Sinan, who was the architect of
more than 440 structures across the Ottoman Empire, used the
engineering technique of keeping empty space inside the structure
and the corner arch method while constructing domes for the Grand
Mosque.
Rocks from Shumaysi
Turkish experts found that rocks from Mount Shumaysi in the
neighborhood ofMakkahwere used to carve most of the columns used in
the portico.
According to the Mataf expansion plans, the portico will be
rebuilt a few meters away from their original position after the
restoration work is completed.
The level of portico will be parallel to the Mataf and will be
linked with the basement floor having a depth of 27 meters.
The current expansion will increase the capacity of the Mataf
three-fold to accommodate 150,000 worshipers an hour instead of the
present capacity of 50,000.
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index...20140419202386
Photo: Orhan Durgut
