Sidi Sahbi Mosque
The Barber Mosque, known as the Sidi Sahab Mausoleum, is a Tunisian zaouia located in Kairouan, outside the walls of the medina.
The monument houses the famous tomb of Abu Zamaa el-Balaoui, a companion of the prophet of Islam Muhammad, who died in action in the year 34 AH (654 AD). Nicknamed Sidi Sahab or Sidi Sahbi, he is considered the patron of the city of Kairouan2. The building, very probably erected in the 13th and 14th centuries, was completely renovated in the 7th century by the beys of the Mouradite dynasty. It is Hammouda Pasha Bey who rebuilt the zaouïa, builds the madrasah as well as the minaret around 1662; his grandson, Mohamed Bey El Mouradi, completely remodeled the dome of the mausoleum, and probably the courtyard and the galleries which surround it around 1681-1685.
At the end of the 19th century, the French writer Guy de Maupassant, who visited the building during his stay in Kairouan, described his impressions on discovering the courtyard which precedes the funeral chamber: “The large square courtyard where one arrives then is also completely discolored. The light shines, streams, and varnishes with fire this immense enamel palace, where all the designs and all the colors of oriental ceramics are illuminated under the blaze of the Saharan sky. Above run inexpressibly delicate fantasies of arabesques. It is in this magical courtyard that the door of the sanctuary opens which contains the tomb of Sidi-Sahab, companion and barber of the Prophet ”.
Architecture
The Mosque of the Barber is a vast complex which includes several courtyards, the mausoleum itself, a madrasah, a warehouse, as well as several rooms intended for the accommodation of visitors.
Courtyards and mausoleum
Access to the building is via an entrance leading to a large porch courtyard paved with bricks. At the northwest corner of the latter stands a Hispano-Moorish type minaret, upstairs occupied by two twin bays, framed by ceramic coverings. Its summit is enhanced with stepped merlons, unlike the Kairouan minarets with rounded merlons.
From this courtyard, one arrives at another entrance, the door of which is framed by lintels in white and red marble in the Italianate style1. The mausoleum is accessed through an angled vestibule leading to an elongated patio bordered by two porticoes with horseshoe arches resting on neo-Corinthian capitals adorned with the Ottoman crescent. This passage leads to a beautiful space covered with a dome on horns, part of the tradition of Kairouan domes. This is remarkable for the richness of its decoration, composed of stucco panels with plant and geometric motifs in the Hispano-Moorish style (hexagons, stars, rosettes, etc.) and turquisant (bouquets of flowers and cypresses) 2. This domed room opens onto another courtyard surrounded by porticoes with broken horseshoe arches, the walls of which, covered with polychrome enamel tiles, are surmounted by sculpted stucco panels of rare finesse1. This courtyard precedes the funeral chamber covered with a dome on horns surmounted on the outside by a lantern.