Projecting portal
A triumphal-arch gateway.
Citizen59 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Hamed Gamaoun — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wildtunis — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Anouarhamzamahdia — CC BY-SA 3.0
The mosque begun in 916, when the Fatimid caliph Abdallah al-Mahdi founded Mahdia, to serve as the new capital's congregational mosque. It stands on the southern side of the peninsula, close to the sea. Its outstanding feature is the monumental entrance projecting from the facade, with a great arch in the manner of a triumphal gateway, an early example of this kind of portal in Islamic architecture. Like the first Fatimid mosques, it has no tall minaret. Most of the Fatimid city vanished over time and the mosque itself fell into ruin, so archaeologists rebuilt it in the 1960s on its old foundations, keeping the original facade and entrance. Muslims pray here at prayer times, while non-Muslims usually admire the portal and facade from the square in front. On the way from here to Cap Afrique you pass the sea, the seaside cemetery and the Borj el Kebir.
A triumphal-arch gateway.
From the Fatimid era.
Close to the sea.
South side of the peninsula, medina, Mahdia
It was rebuilt in the 1960s on its old foundations, but the facade and portal survive from the original Fatimid building.
