The Great Mosque of Maarrat al-Numan is an Ayyubid-era mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

 in the village of Maarrat al-Numan between Hama

Hama

Hama is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria north of Damascus. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. Hama is the fourth-largest city in Syria—behind Aleppo, Damascus, and Homs—with a population of 696,863...

 and Aleppo

Aleppo

Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...

 in Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

. This congregational mosque was built in the first half of the twelfth century.

History

Ma'arat al-Nu'man developed as a major caravan stop on the north-south corridor between Aleppo and Damascus

Damascus

Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

 and later became an Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

 stronghold on the eastern side of the Orontes valley opposite the western string of Crusader

Crusades

The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...

 castles. The mosque signified a rapidly growing site of political and geographical importance. All that remains of the mosque today is the square minaret that bears a close resemblance -in form and ornamentation- to the minaret of the Great Mosque of Aleppo

Great Mosque of Aleppo

The Great Mosque of Aleppo or the Ummayad Mosque of Aleppo is the largest and oldest mosque in the city of Aleppo in northern Syria. The present mosque dates form the 13th century Mamluk period, only the Seljuk minaret of 1090 is older...

. The architect Hassan Ben Mukri al-Sarman, built the mosque in Ma'arat al-Nu'man to rival the Great Mosque in Aleppo. In 1099, however, during the Crusader siege of Ma'arat al-Nu'man

Siege of Ma'arrat al-Numan

The Siege of Maarat, or Ma'arra, occurred in 1098 in the city of Ma'arrat al-Numan, in what is modern-day Syria, during the First Crusade...

a massacre of 20,000 of its residents severely diminished the town's aspirations of further development.