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Letters
AL-Hadba' Minaret (Al Mosul,
Nineveh)
Dear Mr Cruickshank
Further to my email, which I sent to you through the BBC recently, I am happy to say that I have managed to see your programme again and in the light of that I would like to amend my previous email to read as follows:
Your programme Adventures in Architecture on BBC Two on Wednesday 23 April 2008 about the Ghurid Minaret was most enlightening as well as entertaining and I would like to congratulate you and the BBC on such programmes.
First of all I would like to say that I am an Iraqi engineer by profession, but I am very interested in history, archaeology and literature as I write Arabic poetry and have published many poems.
The Ghurid minaret is no doubt, as described in your programme, one of the tallest and earliest minarets in the Islamic World measuring 60 metres in height and having been constructed in the 1190s. It is beautifully decorated and includes that unique feature of the double parallel staircases.
It struck me, after watching your programme, that there seems to be an amazing coincidence that another famous minaret was constructed at that very period of time, to be exact during the years 1170-1172. That minaret is still standing in the centre of the city of Mosul in northern Iraq.
I have recently learnt that you had visited Mosul in November 2002 and I have read your article “Letter from Baghdad” published in The Architectural Review on 3rd January 2003 about that visit in which you mentioned the Mosul minaret. The article does not mention whether you had visited the minaret at close quarters or inspected it from the inside?
To my humble knowledge; the Ghurid Minaret has a striking similarity to the Mosul Minaret which:
1- stands 49.45 metre high.
2- has a cylindrical body
3- has the unique double parallel spiral staircase feature
4- is constructed from local bricks and decorated with different geometrical Islamic patterns.
5- is older albeit by some twenty years than the Ghurid minaret which makes it, most probably, the first minaret to have the unique feature of the double parallel spiral stair cases .
Furthermore the Mosul minaret has that peculiar soothing aesthetic though dangerous feature of leaning which you describe in your article as a “curious twelfth century minaret that was built so that it leans to one side in a cheerful manner”.
That leaning of the minaret has been increasing recently at an alarming rate, and it measures more than 2 metres off centre now. This is endangering the very existence of the minaret and although this has been the subject of many studies and reports no actual permanent remedial solution has been taken.
The problem has been brought to the attention of the UNISCO, and other world bodies since the solution is technically available based on that adopted for the leaning Tower of Pizza. All that is needed to save this historic monument is the funding.
Therefore another successful BBC programme by you similar to that of the Ghurid Minaret but featuring the Mosul minaret would no doubt bring this historic monument to the attention of the world in addition to being both an enlightening and entertaining programme.
I hope you will consider this letter and that the proposal meets with your approval.
Yours Sincerely
Ghanim Anaz
May 2008
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