The al-Mutawakkil Mosque was the largest mosque in the world for 400 years
Great Mosque of Samarra is located in the city of Sāmarrā, Iraq, about 120 km north of Baghdad, on the banks of the Tiger. It was built in the 9th century, commanded by the Abbasid caliph Jafar Al-Mutawakkil, who settled in Samarra to escape conflicts with the local population in Baghdad and stayed there for 56 years, a period during which he built many palaces including the largest mosque in all Islam. The Great Mosque extended over an area of 17 hectares. The building itself covered 38,000 square meters. She stayed. largest mosque in the world for 400 years before being destroyed by the armies of the Mongol Sovereign Houlagou Khan during the invasion of Iraq in 1278. The exterior walls and the imposing minaret of 52 meters high is all that remains of this ancient Great Mosque.
The mosque has a rectangular plan surrounded by an outdoor brick wall of 10 meters high and 2.65 meters thick and supported by a total of 44 semicircular towers . One of the 16 gates above which there were covered arcades could be entered into the mosque. The mosque had 17 nfs , and its walls were full of dark blue glass mosaics. The court was initially lined with galleries with colonnades now missing, the most beautiful part of which was the one facing Mecca.
27 meters from the centre of the mosque, north side, stands the most original minaret in the Muslim world , Malwiya a huge spiral cone of 52 meters high and 33 meters wide at the base. At the top of the tower rests a round vestibule, which is decorated with eight nests in the form of an oocyte. It is possible to walk to the top along the spiral path. In fact, the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil, often made this donkey ride to enjoy the view.
The minaret was partially destroyed in April 2005, when insurgents bombed the tower because the US troops had used it as an observation post. Samarra is indeed at the heart of the Iraqi religious conflicts between Sunni and Shia, and the British claim that this bombing was done to further destabilize the country. However, the site was able to take advantage of this bombing: the mosque of Samarra and the old town were listed on the list UNESCO World Heritage in 2007.
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