5270 x 6985 px | 44,6 x 59,1 cm | 17,6 x 23,3 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
7 gennaio 2024
Ubicazione:
Dhu'l-Kifl, Iraq
Altre informazioni:
Dhu'l-Kifl shrine is situated between the towns of Hillah and Najaf, one hundred and thirty kilometers south of Baghdad. It is part of a complex comprising a minaret and a mosque. The site was originally a place of Jewish pilgrimage as it housed the tomb of the prophet Ezekiel. The Iraqi authorities assert that in 1316 the Ilkhanid Sultan Uljaitu acquired the rights of guardianship over the tomb from the Jewish community. Consequently, the shrine was re-named according to the Islamic nomenclature for the same prophet. Sultan Uljaitu added to the structure by building a mosque and a minaret. As well he restored the shrine implementing some alterations made clear by comparing its present state with pre-Ilkhanid travelers' descriptions. The site remained a Muslim pilgrimage place until the beginning of the nineteenth century when Menahim Ibn Danyal, a wealthy Jew, successfully converted it back to a Jewish site and restored it. The minaret remained as the only witness to its tenure as an Islamic site. The muqarnas dome of Dhu'l-Kifl is the first example of Iraqi architecture having an outside shell independent from the internal one, a practice started in the Ilkhanid period.
