The Retractable Maqṣūra Screen and Mobile Minbar of the Kutubiyya Mosque of Marrakesh
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/arq.arqt.2021.012Keywords:
maqṣūra, minbar, Almohad, capstan, windlass, block-and-tackle, ropeAbstract
The Kutubiyya Mosque of Marrakesh, built under the Almohad Caliph cAbd al-Mu’min from 1158 to 1163, was fitted with a mechanical system for raising and lowering the maqṣūra screen, plentifully described in the chronicles of the time. Excavations in 1947 shed some light on the mechanisms of this system; this paper looks at how it might have worked based on the description provided by the documents and the material remains.
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Funding data
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación
Grant numbers PID2019-111644GB-I00
