Name of Monument:

Hanefite Mosque of Hammuda Pasha

Location:

In the Medina, Tunis, Tunisia

Date of Monument:

Hegira 1066 / AD 1655

Architect(s) / master-builder(s):

Probable participation of Italian prisoners.

Period / Dynasty:

Muradid

Patron(s):

Hammuda Pasha al-Muradi.

Description:

The Hammuda Pasha Mosque is a funerary mosque (associates the tomb of the founder with the place of worship). The prayer hall is flanked by three galleries leading out into courtyards. On the east side, the lateral gallery is peristylar and has an external mihrab, so that it can welcome the faithful during the summer.
The west courtyard has a minaret rising from a square base at the northwest corner. It is made of medium-sized shelly sandstone blocks of an even ochre hue. At the opposite corner is the turbe housing the remains of Hammuda Pasha and his family. This square monument has sides 8.20 m wide and a pyramidal roof with varnished green tiles. Each of the four faces has a central arcature, flanked by a rectangular panel over which there are two niches. The geometric effect of alternating courses of black and white marble blocks contrasts with the Italianate floral motifs executed in marble marquetry or in sculpture in the round.
The prayer hall, built to a rectangular plan (approximately 24 m x 17 m), is largely open to the courtyards through a series of doors and windows framed in finely carved marble with piers. It is divided into seven naves and four bays and roofed with barrel vaults ending in cloister arches. The vaults rest on 48 entasised columns with neo-Ionic scrolled capitals. The walls are covered with marble panels which change to sculpted plaster at the spandrel level.
In front of the mihrab is a dome with an inscription dating the monument. The opening to the mihrab itself is a Moorish arch with arch-stones in alternate colours. This is supported on two black stone colonnettes. The lower part of the niche is decorated with alternate white, pink and grey marble arcatures. The half-dome of the niche is covered with sculpted plaster with geometric strap-work. The minbar is decorated in simpler fashion with white marble panelling.

This mosque was built at the high-point of the kasbah by the Muradid sovereign Hammuda Pasha in the mid AH 11th / AD 17th century, using the Yussef Dey Mosque as a model. Its decoration is rich and varied, with a profusion of carved stucco panels and marquetry panels with alternating black and white marble motifs. Elements of baroque decoration abound on the sides of the turbe, and the minbar follows the ornamental style.

How Monument was dated:

Inscription.

Selected bibliography:

Saadaoui, A., Tunis, ville ottomane, Tunis, 2001.

Citation of this web page:

Mohamed Béji Ben Mami "Hanefite Mosque of Hammuda Pasha" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2025. 2025.
https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;tn;Mon01;8;en

Prepared by: Mohamed Béji Ben MamiMohamed Béji Ben Mami

Né le 27 janvier 1950 à Tunis, docteur en archéologie islamique, Mohamed Béji Ben Mami est directeur général de l'Institut national du patrimoine et vice-président de la Municipalité de Tunis. Il a restauré, sauvegardé et mis en valeur plus d'une cinquantaine de monuments de la médina de Tunis, dirigé les fouilles de grands sites islamiques et organisé diverses expositions relatives à la civilisation arabo-islamique.
Depuis 1996, il est vice-président de l'Union des historiens arabes et représentant de l'Union des archéologues arabes de Tunisie.
Mohamed Béji Ben Mami a pris part à divers congrès internationaux et publié plusieurs articles et ouvrages, parmi lesquels Tourbet el-Bey (Tunis, 2004) et Les médersas de la médina de Tunis (Tunis, 2005).
Copyedited by: Margot Cortez
Translation by: David Ash
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: TN 08