Monolithic column
M’sila, Algeria
Museum of M’sila (National Agency of Archaeology)
About Museum of M’sila (National Agency of Archaeology), M’sila
Hegira 406–547 / AD 1015–1152
211
Sculpted grey marble.
Height 69.3 cm, length 27 cm, width 11 cm
Hammadid
Palace of the Amirs (?), Qal’at Bani Hammad, Algeria.
A very simple monolithic column, sculpted from a block of grey marble. An undecorated shaft rises from a square base and is topped by a capital featuring three rows of acanthus leaves.
This component fulfils both a functional and a decorative role; it would have served to consolidate and support the construction whilst at the same time decorating one of the two sides of openings (windows).
The National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Arts of Algiers houses another similar column.
Very simple, sculpted monolithic column. On top of the square base, a plain shaft is crowned with a capital decorated with three rows of acanthus leaves. This column was both functional and decorative: it supported the building while adorning the sides of the windows.
The piece was found in the Qal'at Bani Hammad (5th–6th / 11th–12th centuries).
Archaeological repository (De Beylié excavations, 1908).
According to General de Beylié, this column was donated by the local marabout (Muslim saint); it therefore probably once formed part of the Palace of the Amirs.
Beylié, général de, La Kalaa des Beni Hammad, une capitale berbère de l'Afrique du Nord au XIe siècle, Paris, 1909.
Bourouiba, R., Cités disparues: Tahert, Sédrata, Achir, Kalaâ des Beni Hammad, Alger, 1982.
Bourouiba, R., Les H'ammadites, Alger, 1984.
Ali Benbella "Monolithic column" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;dz;Mus01;23;en
MWNF Working Number: AL 34
RELATED CONTENT
Related monuments
Islamic Dynasties / Period
On display in
MWNF Galleries
Architectural Elements
See also
Download
As PDF (including images) As Word (text only)