2018-05-17 Thu

The Great Mosque of Al-Nuri is situated at Mosul, Iraq. It is famous for its leaning minaret which gave the city its nickname the ‘Al-Hadba’.

The mosque was first built in the late 12th century. It is said that Nur ad-Din Zangi, a Turkoman atabeg of the great Seljuk Empire and Sultan of its Syrian province, built the mosque. Later on, in 1511AD, the mosque was extensively renovated by the Safavid Empire.

Grattan Geary, a 19th-century traveller, described the minaret’s appearance: “It is several feet out of the perpendicular, though it starts fair from the ground, and at the top, before putting on its gallery and dome, it regains an erect posture. Its attitude is that of a man bowing.”

When the cylindrical minaret was built it stood 45 meters (148 ft) high, with seven bands of decorative brickwork in complex geometric patterns ascending in levels towards the top. The design of the minaret follows a form originally developed in neighbouring Iran and Central Asia and shares similarities with other minarets in northern Iraq, such as those in Mardin, Sinjar and Arbil.

The 15 fils stamp depicts the Minaret of the Great Mosque of Al-Nuri.

Image Source: Google Images