The great dome of this ruined mosque was the largest in East Africa until the nineteenth century, according to UNESCO.
It is the Great Mosque of Kilwa, on the island of Kilwa Kisiwani, off the coast of southern Tanzania. From the thirteenth to the sixteenth century, merchants here traded gold, silver, pearls and perfumes across the Indian Ocean.
UNESCO also calls it the oldest standing mosque on the East African coast, though sources differ on that.
It began as a small prayer hall of coral stone, built in the eleventh or twelfth century. It had no courtyard, which makes it one of the first mosques built that way.
In the early fourteenth century Sultan al-Hasan ibn Sulaiman added a southern extension with the great dome.
A chronicle says the mosque fell into ruin after his death, and that a later sultan rebuilt it in the early fifteenth century. The southern hall was then roofed with barrel vaults and domes of coral concrete, and UNESCO notes that some are decorated with embedded Chinese porcelain.
Accounts say street fighting and fires in 1506 left Kilwa largely deserted, and in the eighteenth century the mosque was abandoned.
Today its walls, arches and pillars still stand in places, though much of the roof is gone. UNESCO listed the ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani in 1981, and kept them on its danger list from 2004 to 2014.
While there were many buildings and structures made of stone such as the Great Mosque, discoveries of coins were first made. Each coin was under the name of 'Ali bin al-Hasan. Because all of the coins were under the same name, it is the most convincing confirmation that there is in order to identify the earliest form of a first ruler in Kilwa. Pots of these coins were also found inside of the walls of the mosque. This serves as proof that masonry was a form of commitment before these coins were common.
Early inscriptions were also found with early dates attached to them in which one of the dates marked the year 1269 the start of construction of the minaret of the Great Mosque.
These coins that were found under 'Ali bin al-Hasan were found on the higher two levels of the mosque, suggesting that the mosque may have been built long before this sultan. However, the initial rectangular shape of the mosque was said to have been built between 1131 and 1170.
3D documentation
Between 2005 and 2009, the Zamani Project documented some of the Swahili ruins on Kilwa Kisiwani with terrestrial 3D laser scanning. The structures documented include the Gereza (prison), the Great Mosque, the Husuni Kubwa, the Makutani Building, and the Malindi Mosque.
Architecture and design
Residing on the coast of East Africa, the Great Mosque was one of the many structures in Kilwa that was built in a fairly common fashion of its time. Like its name suggests it was remarkably larger than the other mosques being built on the island. The walls of the mosque were built and developed of generally squared and coursed coral stone. Often, the courses in between would have chips built in to level them out. These types of walls were barely made below the ground and were made with mud mortar. Columns also made of coral stone helped to support the high vaulted ceiling. The floors were slowly made of lime plaster, and later, the walls were made of lime mortar. There was also a separate domed chamber used for private worship by the Sultan. However, due to decline in wealth in Kilwa in the late 14th century, it led to less construction of buildings and building maintenance because the demand for lime and building stone lessened. Because of Kilwa's decline, the Great Mosque was reported to be in ruins. The mosque collapsed during the rule of Abu'l Mawahib al-Hasan bin Sulaiman.
The mosque is placed at the top of a small hill bridging to the qibla, making the mosque larger in width than it is length. The oblique arches in the interior support the structure of the ceiling. Later, another set of these arcades were built to reinforce them. The external edicule of a mihrab built in the walls is topped by an arch. The outside veneer of the qibla divider is strengthened by a 30-centimetre-wide (12 in) brace that finishes the establishment. This mihrab has a broken arch that resides on top of two columns with rectangular capitals.
The northern part of the Great Mosque is the oldest portion of the mosque, and was built between 1131 and 1170. All that remains of the northern part are walls whose establishments are made out of a genuinely standard mechanical assembly, quadrangular rubble in coral limestone. Today, the nine monochrome polygonal segments that hold up the leveled roof are still visible.
Renovations
As time progressed, Kilwa had a growing trading economy and wealth flourished. Because of this growth in the economy, it led to a new extension built to the Great Mosque. During this time of prosperity, the Great Mosque was rebuilt and renovated many times leading to a majority of the structure being new at the time.
Between 1294 and 1302, the Great Mosque was extended southward as support for a semicircular vault in which the sultan went to do his prayer. This southern extension of the mosque was traditionally built, having square bays divided by a space in between, leaving no central court. The southern wall of the mosque still has rectangular columns from this time.
In the fourteenth century, traces of the octagonal pillars were thought to have been built from previous traditional columns. However, these columns seemed to have been made from a single type of stone.
The History, Architecture and later sections are adapted from the Wikipedia article “Great Mosque of Kilwa”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the full article. Text has been shortened.
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