Courtyards of Great Mosque at Gedi, Kenya

View of east doorway with broad-blade spear inset on the right and

a disintegrated siwa (side-blown horn) inset on the left 

The main access to the mosque was though its eastern façade and from a courtyard containing a well and a cistern at the north end, and an octagonal pillar tomb at the south end.
The ablution court is entered by stepping down between two seven-foot gateposts within the five-foot rounded boundary wall.

  Side view of mihrab and Minbar

The rectangular cistern contained three bowls and was fed via a conduit from the well in the northeast corner.
Between the cistern and the prayer hall veranda were four giant coral bosses set into the ground for use as foot sanders.
Two stone gangways added later partially covered two of these foot scrapers.

  General view of mihrab and ruined wall

The veranda opening onto the courtyard from the three doors of the mosque, initially took the form of a raised platform.
Probably during the second construction of the mosque it was covered with a low roof and lined with small square recesses for lamps.
At the northern end of the verandah was a flight of stairs leading to the roof from where the call to prayer was performed.

  Detail view of mihrab

The exteriors of the doorways leading into the mosque were refined with cut coral edging along the pointed arches, which met in a linear vertical projection creating an inverted Y capping the arch over a recessed frame.
These corbelled arches are likely reminiscent of pre-Islamic Indian architecture.
The northern doorway displays two carved coral plaques on each of the arch spandrels depicting a shield on the left and a spear on the right.
These African motifs resemble a frieze of spears at the palace Ukhaider in Iraq.

  Front view of mihrab

The western veranda was of an equal size as the eastern veranda and not added until the second phase of construction.
The northernmost door of this verandah was thought to be that of the Sultan in that it was private and skirted by a masonry bench or mastaba.

  Detail view of upper left corner of mihrab showing decorative carvings

Four tombs skirt the periphery of the mosque.
Two square paneled tombs are located to the north of the western court, one placed at the north behind the mihrab, and the most notable in the southern part of the eastern court.
This final one is an octagonal pillar tomb tapering to about 22 feet in height and dating from about 1500.

  Detail view of upper right corner of mihrab showing decorative carvings

GREAT MOSQUE

KENYA'DAKİ DİĞER CAMİLER