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Mosara Garden
Robert Prazeres: created page
The '''Mosara Garden''' or '''el-Mosara''' was a vast royal [[garden]] to the north of [[Fes Jdid|Fes el-Jdid]], the historic citadel and palace-city of the [[Marinid Sultanate|Marinid dynasty]] in [[Fez, Morocco|Fes]], [[Morocco]]. The gardens were created by the Marinid [[sultan]] [[Abu Yaqub Yusuf an-Nasr|Abu Ya'qub Yusuf]] in 1286 and became famous in part because of a huge ''[[noria]]'' ([[Water wheel|waterwheel]]) that was created to provide it with water. The gardens were abandoned and progressively ruined during the Saadian period (16th-17th centuries) and have since disappeared, leaving only traces in a few structures such as [[Bab Segma]].
== History ==
[[Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq|Abu Yusuf Ya'qub]], who founded [[Fes Jdid|Fes el-Jdid]] as a new [[Marinid Sultanate|Marinid]] royal city in 1276, had also wished to create a vast royal [[pleasure garden]], perhaps in emulation of those he might have admired in [[Granada]] (such as the [[Generalife]]); however, he died in 1286 before this could be accomplished.<ref name=":3">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><ref name=":2"></ref> His son and successor, [[Abu Yaqub Yusuf an-Nasr|Abu Ya'qub Yusuf]], carried out the work instead in 1287.<ref name=":2" /> He enlisted an [[Al-Andalus|Andalusian]] engineer, Ibn al-Hajj from [[Seville]], to help create a vast garden to the north of Fes el-Jdid, along with the water distribution infrastructure required to maintain it.<ref name=":0"></ref><ref name=":2" /> Among these works was a famous and enormous [[noria]] which raised water from the ''[[Oued Fes]]'' (Fes River) up to an aqueduct that then ran north from [[Bab Dekkakin]] to [[Bab Segma]]. The garden and its structures came to be popularly called ''el-Mosara'', meaning "the marvel", due to the strong impression they made on visitors.<ref name=":12">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> The huge noria was frequently the subject of commentary by chroniclers and travelers in subsequent centuries.<ref name=":12" /><ref name="Le Tourneau 1949"></ref>
The gardens fell into ruin and eventually disappeared in subsequent centuries, most likely during the neglect of Fes throughout the [[Saadi dynasty|Saadian]] period (16th-17th centuries), but traces of its structures have survived to modern times.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> The most prominent remains are the octagonal towers of Bab Segma, once the entrance gate to the gardens, but some faint remains of the water basins are also documented.<ref name=":12" /> The site of the garden is now mostly occupied by the large Bab Segma Cemetery (probably dating from the time of [[Al-Rashid of Morocco|Moulay Rashid]]), inside of which the outline of some of the original basins can still be discerned.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":3" /> The noria reportedly disappeared in 1888, leaving only remains of its stone base.<ref name="Le Tourneau 1949" /> Some modern authors still identify the waterwheel on the western edge of the [[Jnan Sbil Gardens]] with the remains of the great Marinid noria.<ref name=":4">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><ref name=":0" /> However, other authors have rebuked this by observing that the Grand Noria would have been far larger and was likely located where the [[Dar al-Makina]] currently stands.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":3" />
== Description ==
The gardens covered 67 hectares to the north of Fes el-Jdid and the royal palace; an area comparable in size to the city itself.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /> They were surrounded by their own walls which seem to have been simply a continuation of the outer wall of Fes el-Jdid (which was protected by double walls along most of its perimeter, though the outer wall was generally smaller and less heavily fortified than the inner wall).<ref name=":12" /> A gate known as Bab Segma, with two massive octagonal towers, acted as an entrance to the gardens on their eastern side, not far from Bab Dekkakin and the northern entrance of the city.<ref name=":12" />
The creation and maintenance of the gardens required the diversion of water from the Oued Fes river which flowed along the north edge of Fes el-Jdid. The water was raised into an [[Aqueduct (water supply)|aqueduct]] via a huge [[noria]] ([[Water wheel|waterwheel]]) measuring 26 metres in diameter and 2 metres wide.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":12" /><ref name="Le Tourneau 1949" /> The noria, sometimes referred to as the "Grand Noria", was located next to [[Bab Dekkakin]].<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":0" /> Its enormous wheel was made of wood, probably covered in [[copper]], and held up on a stone base.<ref name=":0" /> From Bab Dekkakin, the aqueduct then carried the water to Bab Segma further north, and from there it was carried further into three large square basins spread across the gardens.<ref name=":12" /><ref name="Le Tourneau 1949" /> Also located inside the gardens was a ''[[Musalla|msalla]]'', an open-air prayer area, known as the Msalla of the Sultan or the Msalla of Bab Segma.<ref name="Le Tourneau 1949" />
== References ==
== History ==
[[Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq|Abu Yusuf Ya'qub]], who founded [[Fes Jdid|Fes el-Jdid]] as a new [[Marinid Sultanate|Marinid]] royal city in 1276, had also wished to create a vast royal [[pleasure garden]], perhaps in emulation of those he might have admired in [[Granada]] (such as the [[Generalife]]); however, he died in 1286 before this could be accomplished.<ref name=":3">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><ref name=":2"></ref> His son and successor, [[Abu Yaqub Yusuf an-Nasr|Abu Ya'qub Yusuf]], carried out the work instead in 1287.<ref name=":2" /> He enlisted an [[Al-Andalus|Andalusian]] engineer, Ibn al-Hajj from [[Seville]], to help create a vast garden to the north of Fes el-Jdid, along with the water distribution infrastructure required to maintain it.<ref name=":0"></ref><ref name=":2" /> Among these works was a famous and enormous [[noria]] which raised water from the ''[[Oued Fes]]'' (Fes River) up to an aqueduct that then ran north from [[Bab Dekkakin]] to [[Bab Segma]]. The garden and its structures came to be popularly called ''el-Mosara'', meaning "the marvel", due to the strong impression they made on visitors.<ref name=":12">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> The huge noria was frequently the subject of commentary by chroniclers and travelers in subsequent centuries.<ref name=":12" /><ref name="Le Tourneau 1949"></ref>
The gardens fell into ruin and eventually disappeared in subsequent centuries, most likely during the neglect of Fes throughout the [[Saadi dynasty|Saadian]] period (16th-17th centuries), but traces of its structures have survived to modern times.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> The most prominent remains are the octagonal towers of Bab Segma, once the entrance gate to the gardens, but some faint remains of the water basins are also documented.<ref name=":12" /> The site of the garden is now mostly occupied by the large Bab Segma Cemetery (probably dating from the time of [[Al-Rashid of Morocco|Moulay Rashid]]), inside of which the outline of some of the original basins can still be discerned.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":3" /> The noria reportedly disappeared in 1888, leaving only remains of its stone base.<ref name="Le Tourneau 1949" /> Some modern authors still identify the waterwheel on the western edge of the [[Jnan Sbil Gardens]] with the remains of the great Marinid noria.<ref name=":4">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref><ref name=":0" /> However, other authors have rebuked this by observing that the Grand Noria would have been far larger and was likely located where the [[Dar al-Makina]] currently stands.<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":3" />
== Description ==
The gardens covered 67 hectares to the north of Fes el-Jdid and the royal palace; an area comparable in size to the city itself.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /> They were surrounded by their own walls which seem to have been simply a continuation of the outer wall of Fes el-Jdid (which was protected by double walls along most of its perimeter, though the outer wall was generally smaller and less heavily fortified than the inner wall).<ref name=":12" /> A gate known as Bab Segma, with two massive octagonal towers, acted as an entrance to the gardens on their eastern side, not far from Bab Dekkakin and the northern entrance of the city.<ref name=":12" />
The creation and maintenance of the gardens required the diversion of water from the Oued Fes river which flowed along the north edge of Fes el-Jdid. The water was raised into an [[Aqueduct (water supply)|aqueduct]] via a huge [[noria]] ([[Water wheel|waterwheel]]) measuring 26 metres in diameter and 2 metres wide.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":12" /><ref name="Le Tourneau 1949" /> The noria, sometimes referred to as the "Grand Noria", was located next to [[Bab Dekkakin]].<ref name=":12" /><ref name=":0" /> Its enormous wheel was made of wood, probably covered in [[copper]], and held up on a stone base.<ref name=":0" /> From Bab Dekkakin, the aqueduct then carried the water to Bab Segma further north, and from there it was carried further into three large square basins spread across the gardens.<ref name=":12" /><ref name="Le Tourneau 1949" /> Also located inside the gardens was a ''[[Musalla|msalla]]'', an open-air prayer area, known as the Msalla of the Sultan or the Msalla of Bab Segma.<ref name="Le Tourneau 1949" />
== References ==
April 04, 2020 at 04:15PM
