Architecture
of
the Great Mosque
Built
primarily in the Ming Dynasty when Chinese architectural elements
were synthesized into mosque architecture, the mosque resembles a
fifteenth century Buddhist temple with its single axis lined with
courtyards and pavilions.The mosque occupies a narrow lot about 48
meters by 248 meters. Four successive courtyards, each with a signature
pavilion, screen, or freestanding gateway, lead to the prayer hall
located at the western end of the axis.
The first courtyard has an elaborate wooden arch 9 meters high dating
from the 17th century standing opposite a huge screen wall decorated
with brick carvings. At the center of the courtyard is an imposing
wooden gateway, or pailou. This nine-meter high freestanding pailou
is a four columned roofed structure buttressed on all sides by wooden
props, anchored into stone bases.
In the second courtyard, separated from the first by a shallow roofed
pavilion, stands a rectilinear stone pailou built to resemble a wooden
structure. The area to the south of this courtyard was originally
designated for Hui burial, although this practice never fully developed.
Through another roofed pavilion is the third courtyard, the Qing Xiu
Dian, or "Place of Meditation".In the middle of the courtyard
is the "Introspection Minaret," an octagonal pagoda with
a triple roof of turquoise tiles.In the Imperial Hall in the third
courtyard is the "Moon Tablet" with inscription in Arabic.
The calendric records on it written by a late imam are of high value
of the historical research on Islamism in Shaanxi province.
The third courtyard has a series of rooms along its north and south
walls. On the southern side is the Official Reception Hall, in which
the scripture copy of "The Koran" of the Ming Dynasty is
well preserved. To the east of the hall is a room for Moslems to bathe
before they pray.
In front of the entrance of the fourth courtyard is the ornamental
hexagon Phoenix Pavilion. Built during the Qing Dynasty, the pavilion
is said to resemble a phoenix with its outstretched wings and interrupts
direct view to the prayer hall.On both sides of the pavilion are some
side rooms.
In
the south used to be the place to receive the officials who came to
announce the edicts from the emperors. Now it serves as a gallery
for inscribed tablets that record the history of the mosque. In the
north preserved an old stone sundial and stone tablets with inscriptions
about the mosque of the Tang and other dynasties.
The
prayer hall, which is the focus of this ceremonial layout, is comprised
of a porch and a great hall with a projecting qibla bay. The Hall
with a triple roof of turquoise tiles on a wide platform dates from
the Ming. It can hold 1000 believers and on its coffered ceilings
are over 600 classical scriptures in colorful decorative patterns
of grass and flowers. Six hundred polychrome panels with floral motifs
and carved brackets decorate of the ceiling.
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