Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Anjar, Syria, Tripoli (Lebanon)
Further reading:
F.Ragette, 
Architecture in Lebanon. The Lebanese House
during the 18th and 19th centuries,
New York 1980.
Libiya (Libyan Arab People’s Socialist State)
Large North African country located between Tunisia and
Egypt, with the Mediterranean to the north and the Sahara
desert to the south.
Types of wall construction, Beq
a Valley, Lebanon (after
Ragette)

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Libiya (Libyan Arab People’s Socialist State)
Libiya comprises two main geographic areas, the
coast and the Sahara; these areas may be further
separated into several regions. The narrow coastal
strip is divided into three regions: Cyrenaica in the
east with its capital of Benghazi, the Gulf of Sirte in
the centre and Tripolitania in the west. The interior
desert region may be divided into several areas, the
most important of which are the Jabal Nafusa in
south-eastern Tripolitania, and the Fezzan in the
south-east of the Libyan desert.
The present state of Libiya is largely a modern
phenomenon created by Italian colonialism in the
early twentieth century. Ironically, 2,000 years
previously the Romans developed the regions of
Cyrenaica and Tripolitania into some of the wealthiest
provinces of their empire, providing grain for the
Italian peninsula. During the Byzantine era the
prosperity of the area continued with a population
that was predominantly Christian with a large Jewish
minority. The area was first conquered by Islamic
forces in the mid-seventh century with the capture of
Barqa (modern al-Marj) in 642 under 
Amr ibn al-As,
followed in 643 by the conquest of Tripolitania. After
the coastal strip was secured a further force under
Uqba ibn Nafi was sent to take control of Zuwayla in
the Fezzan. In the past it has been generally assumed
that the Islamic conquest led to the collapse of the
Roman urban network but it has recently been shown
that change was more gradual, with a considerable
degree of continuity of settlement from the Byzantine
to the early Islamic period.
During the early tenth century the power of the
Abbasid caliphs in North Africa was destroyed by
the radical Sh
ite Fatimid dynasty who ruled from
their capital of Mahadiyya in Tunisia. During this
period the importance of Libiya increased and the
best examples of early Islamic architecture in the
country are from this period. After the Fatimid
conquest of Egypt much of North Africa, including
the area of present-day Libiya, came under the
control of the Berber Zirid governors. In the
eleventh century North Africa was subject to a new
influx known as the Banu Hilal who were
supposedly dispatched by the Fatimid caliphs to
reintroduce Fatimid propaganda to the rebellious
Berber tribes. In the past the Hilalian invasions have
Bayt al-Din, Druze mansion, Lebanon © Kerry Abbott

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165
Libiya (Libyan Arab People’s Socialist State)
been seen as the cause of North Africa’s
comparative backwardness in the Middle Ages.
More recently this view has been modified, but the
idea of the political weakness of the area cannot be
dispelled. During the twelfth century this weakness
was exploited by Roger, the Norman king of Sicily,
who established a Norman kingdom in Ifriqiya
which included the area of Libiya. After the
expulsion of the Normans the history of Libiya is
fragmented into successive dynasties controlling
individual cities. For a brief period in the early
sixteenth century part of Libiya was occupied by
the Spanish, but they were soon displaced by the
Ottomans who established naval bases on the coast
to harass European shipping in the Mediterranean.
During the eighteenth century Libiya was briefly
ruled by the semi-independent Qarahmanli
dynasty. In 1911 Libiya was again brought under
European rule when the Italians invaded and
established the country as an Italian colony.
The main building materials in Libiya are stone
and mud brick. Re-used Roman or Byzantine stone
has always been in plentiful supply so that many of
the older buildings in Tripoli, Adjdabiyah or
elsewhere use Roman columns and capitals. Mud
brick was employed as a cheap alternative when
dressed stone was not readily available, although
baked brick was also sometimes used. In the
southern desert areas where Roman material was not
so plentiful the main building material is roughly
hewn stones set within a mud mortar. This use of
material determined architectural forms, thus in the
Jabal Nafusa area tall triangular arches were used as
there was no suitable material for normal arch
construction.
With the exception of the occasional building in
the old Byzantine coastal cities, the first distinctive
Islamic architecture in Libiya dates from the Fatimid
period. During the later tenth century the Fatimids
were increasingly interested in Egypt and to this end
developed a number of garrison cities or staging
posts on the route between Mahdiya and Egypt.
Probably the best-known site is the garrison city of
Ajdabiya, south-west of Benghazi, which had both a
large mosque and a palace. The palace is a
rectangular stone-built structure with a central
courtyard flanked by suites of rooms. Directly
opposite the entrance is a monumental portico which
gives access to the principal rooms of the palace
which are arranged in a T-plan. The mosque was a
mud-brick building with stone used for the corners,
piers and jambs. The mosque had a main entrance
in the north-west side opposite the mihrab as well
as several lateral entrances. The aisles run at right
angles to the qibla wall, with the exception of the
transept adjacent to the qibla wall which runs parallel
(an arrangement frequent in Fatimid mosques). The
mosque is important for its early evidence of a
minaret which consists of a square base with an
octagonal shaft, a design which later became the basis
for the Mamluk minarets of Cairo.
Another early Fatimid site is the city of Madinah
Sultan (Surt or Sirt) which is approximately midway
between Benghazi and Tripoli. The city was enclosed
by a large oval-shaped town wall with at least three
gateways. One of the larger buildings uncovered
during excavations was the Friday mosque which is
oriented south-east (an incorrect qibla). The mosque
had four gates, the most prominent of which was
the monumental north gate which is of double width.
Monumental gateways are a characteristic feature of
Fatimid mosques and can also be seen at Mahdiya
in Tunisia and in Cairo. The Madinah Sultan Mosque
has a central aisle running at right angles to the qibla
wall, although unusually for North Africa the rest
of the aisles run parallel to the qibla wall. Some