*Sidi el-Haloui Mosque, a creation of the Merinide Abû Inân Fâres (p. [188]). The pinnacled outer gateway leads to the now freely restored chief portal, with its fine inlaid mosaic tiles, two friezes with inscriptions, and a projecting timber roof.
The ground-plan of this mosque is similar to that of the slightly earlier mosque of Sidi Bou-Médine (p. [194]). From the court, enclosed by a single arcade, we enter the house of prayer with its nave (11 ft. broad), double aisles (10 ft.), and transept. The square mihrâb chapel is covered by a slightly elevated tiled roof instead of a dome. The old timber ceiling of the interior has recently been much restored, and remains of the superb stucco decoration have lately been brought to light from under the whitewash. The mihrâb has lost all its rich ornamentation save the stalactite vaulting. The eight onyx *Columns, brought from Mansura, which support the pointed horseshoe arches of the arcades, are remarkable for their beautiful capitals in the Moorish style.
The minaret added at the W. angle of the court, with its multifoil arched niches in the two lower stories and reticulated work on the upper, resembles that of the mosque of Sidi Bou-Médine. A portal opposite with a projecting roof leads to the domed Latrines.
We now follow the path to the W., skirting the town-walls, and affording fine views, to the Porte du Nord (Pl. B, 1), through which we enter the Rue de France. From this street the Boulevard National soon diverges to the right to the large Place Cavaignac (Pl. B, 1, 2), the chief square in the uniformly built French quarter. The font in the church of St. Michel (Pl. B, 2) came from the mosque of Mansura.
On the E. side of the church runs the Rue Ximénès, intersecting the whole town. This street, or the Rue de la Victoire (Pl. C, B, 2), which begins at the Place d’Algier, forms the chief approach to the S. W. Mohammedan Quarter, which was inhabited in the Turkish period mainly by Kuluglis (p. [171]). At the S. end of the Rue Ximénès, on the left, is the interesting Ecole Professionnelle Indigène de Tapis (Pl. C, 4; adm. daily 8–11 and 2–5, except on Sun., Frid., and great festivals).
The busy Rue Haëdo, prolonging the Rue de la Victoire, leads to the S.W. to the Porte de Fez (Pl. A, 4). In the Rue Sidi-Brahim, the first side-street on the left, is the—
Sidi Brahim Mosque (Pl. B, 3), formerly belonging to the Medersa Yakûbîya. The Medersa was built in 1362 by Abû Hammu Mûsa II. (p. [188]), and named after his father, but the last vestiges of it were removed in 1846. This small mosque, with nave and double aisles, received its present decoration in the Turkish period. The mihrâb, adorned with the Turkish crescent, has mural tiles with gold lustre in the Gubbio style. The present pulpit, from which the Friday prayer was recited for the Kuluglis, was executed by the Turkish artist Mohammed Ben-Hasen Ben-Ferfara (1831–2), and the door of the old sacristy was carved by Sâlim Bu-Jenân Ben-Ferfara. The Kubba of Sidi Brahim (d. 1401), adjoining the mosque, still contains its old geometric stucco decoration and mosaic tiles.
The Oulâd el-Imâm Mosque (Pl. B, 3), to the N. of the Rue Haëdo, was built about 1310 by the Abdelwadite Abû Hammu I. as a chapel for the Medersa el-Kadîma, the oldest school of the learned at Tlemcen, but is now in a sad state of ruin. The minaret still shows traces of fayence mosaics. The fine mihrâb was probably redecorated under the Ziyanides.
In the Rue d’Hennaya, near the Fez Gate, rises the modern Medersa (Pl. A, B, 3), a tasteful new-Moorish edifice (visitors admitted).
To the W. of the modern town-walls, between the Porte de Fez and the Porte d’Oran, lies the Grand Bassin (Pl. A, 3; Arabic Sahrîj el-Kebîr or ben-Bedda), a large reservoir, similar to the reservoirs of Kairwan and Marakesh, constructed of concrete, 220 yds. long, 110 yds. broad, and 10 ft. deep, now used as a drill-ground. It is said to have been made by Abû Tâkhfîn (p. [190]). According to a tradition the last of the Ziyanide dynasty were drowned here by Horuk Barbarossa (p. [221]) in 1517.