Taynal Mosque

Taynal Mosque
Jami' Taynal
Religion
Affiliation	Sunni Islam
Location
Location	Tripoli, Lebanon
Architecture
Style	Mamluk
Founder	Taynal
Completed	1336

The Taynal Mosque, or the mosque of Emir Seif ed-Dine Taynal el-Hajele is a mosque in Tripoli, Lebanon. Standing in the middle of an orchard and visible from all sides; it's an oblong structure of sandstone. Its peculiarities reflecting the remnants of a Crusader church built by the Carmelite Fathers at the time of the Crusades, while the Crusaders themselves had built the church on a Roman temple dedicated to Zeus, locally called Baal. Several medieval travelers, including the 14th-century traveler Ibn Batutah, have written eloquently about it.

Although it is now surrounded by big buildings and roads, the mosque was built in the year 1336 in the midst of Tripoli among extensive orange trees, not far from the Abu Ali (Kadisha) river. The mosque has a vault near the inner chapel and a marble courtyard surrounded by four rooms used by the council of four service schools in Tripoli during the time of Mamluk and Chafi'eeh, Hanafiyyeh, Malikiyyeh, and Hanbaliyyeh. There are two prayer halls, the first of which is capped by a massive dome supported by Byzantine-Corinthian capitals on four Pharaoh-era granite columns. The floor is laid out in geometric patterns in marble, and a door with bas-reliefs separates the two halls, and its decoration is considered to be the best of the Mameluke period. The Mihrab and the wooden trunk in the second hall were both created by master artisan Mohammad as-Safadi.

Gallery

• 
  View of mosque entrance
• 
  North facing interior view
• 
  Interior view
• 
  Minbar of the mosque

External links

• Mosques in Tripoli, Lebanon
• Taynal Mosque