Almohad Mosque at Bollulos de la Mitación
Bollulos de la Mitación, Spain

The church now known as Ermita de Cuatrohabitan, located approximately five kilometers from Seville in a settlement known as Bollulos de la Mitación, is believed to have been constructed in the twelfth-century as a rural mosque. In contrast to the monumentality and rich decoration of Almohad architecture elsewhere, the structure at Bollulos de la Mitación is modest in scale, materials, and design. Constructed of brick, the building was originally rectangular in plan and oriented along a north-south axis. The interior is divided into three longitudinal naves by five-bay arcades. Each bay consists of a round horseshoe arch recessed within a square frame. Aside from the slight outward curve made by the springing of the arches, the whitewashed interior is devoid of ornament. A freestanding square brick minaret, (subsequently absorbed into later additions) was located behind the mosque, near its northeast corner. In keeping with the Almohad minarets of Seville (Giralda), Rabat (Hassan Mosque), and Marrakesh (Kutubiyya Mosque), the elevation of each side of the minaret at Bollulos de la Mitación is articulated slightly differently. On the north face of the tower, for instance, narrow rectangular windows surmounted by doubled polylobed arches are recessed within rectilinear frames, giving the appearance of geminate windows. The windows on the minaret's western elevation are staggered in relation to those of the northern face, and whereas the upper window is ornamented with polylobed arches, the lower window boasts round horseshoe arches. The mosque at Bollulos de la Mitación is a rare example of Almohad religious architecture on the Iberian Peninsula.


Sources:

Francoise de Montêquin, Compendium of Hispano-Islamic Art and Architecture, St. Paul: Hamline University Press, p. 119.


Leopoldo Torres-Balbas. 1941. "Dos obras de Arquitectura Almohade: La Mezquita de Cuatrohabitan y el Castillo de Alcalá de Guadaira," Al-Andalus, VI, Fasc. 1, p. 204-216.


Leopoldo Torres-Balbas. 1955. Artes Almoravide y Almohade. Madrid: CSIC, p.10-11, pl. 19, 24.

Location
41110 Bollullos de la Mitación, Bollulos de la Mitación, Spain
Events
1198-1248/594-646 AH
Style Periods
1130-1269
Variant Names
Aljama del despoblado de Cuatrovitas
Variant
Ermita de Cuatrohabitan
Variant
Building Usages
religious
religious
Materials/Techniques