Atabeg (1146-1172), built a second Friday mosque in the bazaar, and
this must be the great mosque with the leaning minaret which stands in
the centre of the town, but how much of the original work remains I
could not determine, for Mohammadan feeling was running high when I was
in Môṣul, and at such times it is wiser not to ask for admittance into
mosques.[151] Finally a third Friday mosque was erected near the Tigris
(represented, as I conjecture, by the tomb of the Imâm Yaḥyâ), and to
Lûlû’s day belongs also the ziyârah of ’Abdullah ibn Ḥassan in the heart
of the town. The entrelac round the door of this ziyârah is very similar
to the decoration of the sanctuary door in Mâr Tûmâ, except that the
figures are absent. In the interior there is a band of deeply-cut stone
relief of the wood-work type. The fluted cone-like roof with which the
ziyârah is covered is found in all the Moslem tombs of Môṣul. There is
another fragment of Lûlû’s handiwork which, ruined though it be, is of
great architectural importance, the Ḳal’at Lûlû on the Tigris bank, not
far from the tomb of the Imâm Yaḥyâ.[152] Only the eastern end of two
vaulted halls is standing, but in one of these remains of stucco
ornament still cling to the walls (Fig. 173). The ornament consists of a
band of inscription and a band of tiny arcades, each arch containing the
representation of a nude human figure, depicted from head to waist.[153]
Below this band there has been another design of larger arches covered
with rinceaux which are adorned with flowers and birds. The town walls
are comparatively modern, but the Sinjâr Gate, on the west side, is
worthy of note. It resembles the gates of Aleppo, and like them it bears
a blazonry of lions.
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