Towards an Understanding of the Local Interpretations of the Arab Mosque Model in the Saharan Regions. Re-exploration of the Ziban in South-Eastern Algeria

Abstract

The architecture of the Arab mosque has been interpreted in two different ways. In major capitals, the mosques were constructed under the patronage of the rulers, who have given them a monumental appearance. It was the time of the emergence of the so-called “Hispano-Maghreb” or “Hispano-Moorish” style that reflected the potency and the prestige of the rulers. In contrast, in villages and hamlets, the adoption of the Arab mosque model was a vernacular art, as is the case in the Saharan regions of Algeria. This article investigates the local interpretations of the Arab mosque model by taking the vernacular mosques of the Ziban region as a case study. The research followed both historical and visual approaches, and the data were collected from travelogues, graphic documents, architectural surveys, old and current photographs, and the interrogation of the residents. The findings demonstrated that the early mosque of Okba Ibn Nafaa served as a generative model for subsequent mosques in the Ziban. It gave birth to the “Saharan style,” which is characterised by the use of vernacular building materials of clay and palm wood. In addition, the investigation revealed that the reuse of Roman ruins is a very old practice in the Ziban, as evidenced by the many mosques located in the ksour near the Limes line.