EnglishReligious Architecture
Tangier, North Africa, Marocco
Religious Architecture
As Tangier already had a titular bishop, Nuno Álvares de Aguiar, who had accompanied King Afonso V in 1471, he was put in charge of the Diocese of Tangier and the cathedral built on the site of the principal mosque was dedicated to the Holy Spirit. The cathedral adapted the Muslim place of worship, preserving a ceiling with a succession of scissor roofs. The minaret appears to have been used as a bell tower at first but was later demolished, whereas the elimination of some internal columns and roofs contributed to a more oriented spatial dimension, distinct from the isometry of the hypostyle room.
Throughout the nearly 200 years of Portuguese presence in Tangier, religious architecture marked the urban landscape of the city through its 11 churches or hermitages, of which only a few can now be located. As has been mentioned the religious heart of Tangier was the Cathedral of Our Lady of Conception the buildings of which were connected the bishop’s palace on the western side. Still further west, the Misericórdia occupied the next block, just before the market square. Across the street, opposite the cathedral, stood the Convent of Saint Dominic. Apart from this core, the remaining hermitages or churches were scattered across the city: Saint John, probably at Rue Las Once, formerly Rua de São João; Saint Sebastian; Saint Barbara, fronting the street with the same name, now Rue Nasiria; Vera Cruz; Holy Spirit, a Christian church built above a former mosque; Penha de França; Saint Roch, within the Upper Castle; finally, Our Lady of the Conquest.