Saudi Gazette report The holy site of Muzdalifah now houses a portion of the Abbasid-Ottoman era portico of the Grand Mosque, waiting to be restored after completion of the ongoing expansion of the Mataf (circumambulation area) and the largest ever expansion of Islam's holiest mosque by the end of 2015. Located 3.6 km west of Arafat's Jabal Al-Rahmah (the Mount of Mercy), there is a mammoth iron fenced compound in Muzdalifah where these invaluable architectural artifacts have been kept since demolition of the portico started in November 2012. Currently, according to a report in Makkah daily, hundreds of architects and craftsmen are engaged in refurbishing these precious pieces of history. The mammoth Muzdalifah compound houses several huge warehouses, wooden offices and several tons of materials in different shapes, colors and weights. Nobody is allowed to enter the venue without obtaining prior permission and an entry card. For the past several months, only a few trucks carrying these artifacts and licensed private cars have been granted entry into the compound. The domes and the hallway on the eastern section of the Grand Mosque, which have already been removed, found a place in the compound. The Saudi Binladin Group, which is carrying out the massive Grand Mosque expansion project, have entrusted the task of restoring and refurbishing the Ottoman-era portico to Gursoy Group, one of the leading Turkish companies specialized in restoration work. The late Ottoman rulers Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan Selim II and his son Sultan Murad IV supervised the construction of these porticos. This renovation resulted in the replacement of the flat roof with domes decorated with internal calligraphy and supported by new columns. These domes and columns are acknowledged as the earliest architectural features of the mosque. Gursoy Group specializes in renovation of buildings, especially historical mosques in Turkey. Their last project was the Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul. In the Kingdom, the company has undertaken the monumental task of performing maintenance and refurbishing of all pieces and parts of the portico. After a team inspected the mosque and determined which of the portico's sections in the mosque are from the Ottoman era, they were detached and packed up so they can be restored. The company's workers carefully collected each piece, numbered them and packed them in hundreds of wooden boxes. The pieces were then shipped to Muzdalifah, where they will be pieced together. The secret of the domes When exploring the mechanism used by the Ottomans to build the domes, Saudi and Turkish companies discovered the secrets of Islamic architecture. Experts from Gursoy said they investigated the way in which the domes were built and concluded that they have never seen such a method used in the past. They are keen to preserve these artifacts in their full magnitude and restore the portico with the same skillfulness it was built in the 10th century Hijri. Some of the columns of the portico date back to the Abbasid period. Experts also found an immense variety of columns and pillars used in the portico. Some of them bore the characteristics of pre-Islamic Greek architecture and others date back to the Umayyad and Abbasid periods. Most were from the Ottoman period. Diligent craftsmen and technicians are doing a painstaking job to remove dyeing materials used in previous renovation works from the Islamic inscriptions and ornamental and decorative works in the interior parts of the domes in order to restore them to their original state. There are a lot of pillars, columns and boards bearing inscriptions and writings chronicling their donations by caliphs, sultans and kings during different phases of the expansion of the Grand Mosque. Some of them date back more than 1,200 years. Their restoration also highlights the evolution of various kinds of Islamic calligraphy, artistic creativity and Islamic architecture. 2,754 Ottoman artifacts The Grand Mosque's Ottoman-era structure consisted of about 2,754 historical pieces, including 496 marble columns, 881 arches, 152 domes and 993 portions of balconies. Turkish experts working on the restoration of the domes described the architect who followed a unique method in their construction as a genius. The architect was Sinan Pasha (1499-1588), the father of Turkish architecture. Sultan Suleiman (1520-1566) commissioned Sinan, his chief architect, to renovate the mosque. This renovation resulted in the replacement of the flat roof with domes decorated with calligraphy internally and the placement of new support columns. Sinan, who was the architect of more than 440 structures across the Ottoman Empire, used the engineering technique of keeping empty space inside the structure and the corner arch method while constructing domes for the Grand Mosque. Rocks from Shumaysi Turkish experts found that rocks from Mount Shumaysi in the neighborhood of Makkah were used to carve most of the columns used in the portico. According to the Mataf expansion plans, the portico will be rebuilt a few meters away from their original position after the restoration work is completed. The level of portico will be parallel to the Mataf and will be linked with the basement floor having a depth of 27 meters. The current expansion will increase the capacity of the Mataf three-fold to accommodate 150,000 worshipers an hour instead of the present capacity of 50,000.
