Dome

"Renovated twice during the Zirid period, little remains of the original mosque, which was modelled on that at Qairouan. The Aghlabid prayer hall was reduced in width creating a narrow sanctuary of five aisles perpendicular to the qibla wall, and six aisles parallel to the wall. Two cupolas surmount the extremities of the central aisle. Doubtless originally roofed in timber, the sanctuary was later covered with vaults rising from elongated imposts on the capitals of reused Antique columns. The minaret is richly decorated with arched openings and friezes of dentils, circular bosses and inscriptions. The facade is broken up by slightly pointed horseshoe-arched niches and semicircular recessed linked by dentil moldings. The sanctuary was enlarged in Ottoman times, the builders restoring the mosque to its original Aghlabid dimensions." [Michell]plan (drawing), Keith Turner after George Michell