x. completed project: Hasankeyf (türkçe)

The Rızq-Mosque in Hasankeyf

Historical investigations into the architecture of a medieval mosque

Location

The town of Hasankeyf (=Arab. rock fortress) lies 100 km east of Diyarbakır in the Province of Batman.

History

	Piers of the twelfth-century bridge with a glimpse of the Rızq Mosque in the city center

At Hasankeyf the steep cliffs that line the Tigris switch from one bank to the other, and it is just at this point that a great and sturdy bridge was built in 1116-17 to provide the flow of commerce along the old Silk Road from Mesopotamia to Anatolia with a new and safer crossing. The burgeoning prosperity brought to the site by the bridge lured the Artuk tribes of the neighboring highlands from their easily defended stronghold on an isolated rocky massif high above the plateau down to the riverbanks at the southern bridgehead. A new wall was erected to surround the greatly enlarged area of the city, in which a series of majestic civic structures demonstrated the newly acquired self-assurance of the Ayyubbian rulers. 

Objectives

	The Rızq Mosque: entrance wall of the sanctuary

Downstream near Cizre, the construction of a large new dam across the Tigris is foreseen, the reservoir of which threatens to flood the lower city of Hasankeyf so abundant in historical edifices. Of the four great mosques in the lower city, that most threatened is the Rızq Mosque with a date of 1409, positioned immediately above the riverbank on a steep rock outcropping alongside the ascent to the upper city. Merchants and visitors approaching the city would have glimpsed this dominant structure with its tall slim minaret from a good distance, and even today its grandiose ruins form the centerpiece characterizing the site. The strikingly elevated position of the mosque, however, has brought with it calamitous consequences: on the one hand, the massif upon which it stands has been weakened by numerous caves opened in the cliffs, and on the other, the roiling currents of spring floodwaters have undercut the rock so deeply that large portions of the cliff have fallen, tearing away significant elements of the mosque complex. Neglect has done much harm as well. The objective of the joint project, undertaken in cooperation with Prof. Oluş Arık of the university at Çanakkale, is a comprehensive study of the architectural history of the monument-including its sanctuary, colonnaded court, gateway, and minaret-purporting to reveal the original appearance of the structure as well as to provide insight into the influences apparent from both the Syrian and Persian realms. This will provide an excellent opportunity for a closer examination of the distinctive characteristics of medieval Islamic architecture of southeastern Anatolia and its sources. Parallel to the study, a project for the possible relocation of the monument is under consideration.  

History of Research

Following the visit of the American traveler Gertrude Bell, who was responsible for important photographic documentation in the late nineteenth-early twentieth century, the first to undertake intensive investigation of the Rızq Mosque was the Frenchman Albrecht Gabriel. In 1996 Michael Meinecke-within the framework of a comparative study on Hasankeyf-investigated the complex more thoroughly. Oluş Arık, who has regularly reported on the progress of his investigations at Hasankeyf at the annual Kazı Sonuçları Toplantısı, has not yet dwelt upon the Rızq Mosque. 

Current Work

Since 1986, Professor Oluş Arık (presently at the 19. Mart Universitesi in Çanakkale) has been directing intensive investigations in the ruins of Hasankeyf, as well as expending great efforts to save the site from its foreseen fate of being flooded by the reservoir. It was first in 2002 that the DAI in Istanbul undertook participation in the project with a structural and historical study of the Rızq Mosque. Accordingly, the architect and historian Peter Irenäus Schneider has been preparing drawings of the outlines and sections of the complex as well as a Raumbuch of plans. In addition, an investigation of the caves in the rock below the mosque-of which neither the date nor the purpose had been clarified-is being undertaken, shedding significant light upon the interpretation of the complex. 

Methods

	The Rızq Mosque: dome in one of the side rooms

The goal has been both to determine the original form of the mosque-quite interesting from a structural point of view-through more accurate documentation, and-through the Raumbuch and complementary sondages-to better define the distinguishing architectural features of the complex. In addition, a record of the building is being drawn up at a scale of 1:50, inasmuch as possible with the aid of non-reflective tachymeter measurements, to be completed through photogrammetry. The inventory of scattered architectural members presumably belonging to the Rızq Mosque promises to give a more detailed picture of the richly ornamented structure. Investigation into municipal planning should provide clues to the incorporation of the mosque within the urban fabric; a new study of the literary sources will hopefully provide corroborative evidence for the construction and use of the complex. A stratigraphic study of the finds should furnish chronological reference points, elucidating in particular the date of destruction. 

Results

Significant elements in the reconstruction of A. Gabriel have been confirmed, although his proposal for the sanctuary still remains under investigation. Observations to date suggest that in spite of the building inscription dated 1409, the entire structure was not built at one blow, but probably incorporated still older structural elements; the façade of the sanctuary in particular clearly demonstrates two different phases. The caves beneath the complex may well correlate with the construction of the mosque, suggesting that this monument as well-like the Süleyman Mosque in Hasankeyf-should be considered a burial mosque. 

Cooperation

Prof. Dr. Oluş Arık (Universität Çanakkale)
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dorothée Sack (TU Berlin)  

Further Contact Partners

Dipl.-Ing. Peter Irenäus Schneider, e-mail: irenaeus.schneider@gmx.de

Bibliography

A. Gabriel, Voyages archéologiques dans la Turquie oriental (1940) 65 f.
M. Meinecke, Hasankeyf/Hisn Kayfa on the Tigris: A Regional Center on the Crossroad of Foreign Influences, in: ders. Patterns of Changes in Islamic Architecture. Local Traditions versus Migrating Artists (1996) 73 ff.