Publication Date
616-576/ 1220-1180
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;sy;Mon01;10;ar
Library Location
The current Saruja market area located to the northwest of the city, outside the wall, Damascus, Syria
Date
616-576/ 1220-1180
Notes
The Levantine Madrasa is considered one of the largest schools built in Damascus. It is known for its many endowments, the abundance of teachers, and its great benefactor daughter in the city of Damascus, the great Khatun, Sett al-Sham, bint Ayyub, sister of Saladin. Sitt al-Sham was distinguished by her distinguished patronage of science and culture. She also ordered the construction of a bathhouse and a khanqah, and also recommended that her house be converted into another school after her death. The Levantine school is entered from the north, and it consists of a rectangular sky space overlooked by a group of ablaq arches in the form of a corridor separating it from the following rooms. There is a water basin in the northwest, a burial hall in the southwest, a chapel overlooking the burial room in the southeast, and a minaret with a section. Square to the northeast. The school was originally much larger than that, and included rooms for students and housing for teachers, but nothing remains of it. The chapel is considered the most distinctive part of the school. Its entrance consists of a large central gate, surrounded by two smaller gates, each surmounted by open windows supported by arches. Unlike the shrines in the rest of the madrasas, this hall was not covered by a dome but rather by a slightly pointed cross-vault, and was provided with a mihrab on the southern wall. Surprisingly, the perforated and colored plaster decorations that cover three of the interior walls and the interior of the vault remain. These decorations were executed in the form of symmetrical fields filled with geometric arabesques and bands of writing in Naskh and Kufic scripts. Plaster moldings help to emphasize the frames and ribs of the vault. Three tombs with inscriptions are located within the hall. They are still well preserved and have retained their basic shape and orientation. The tomb furthest to the north, near the entrance, contains Sett al-Sham, who died in AH 616 / AD 1220, and her son Husam al-Din Lajin, who died in AD 581 / AD 1191. The middle tomb contains Sett al-Sham’s cousin and her husband, while the third tomb belongs to her brother, the ruler of Yemen, al-Mu’ajm Turan Shah, who died in AH 576 / AD 1180, who was transferred to Damascus for burial in AH 582/. 1185. The extravagance found in this tomb chamber indicates the importance of Our Lady of Damascus and her family.
Sample Text
Abd al-Razzaq Moaz, Zena Takieddine “The Levantine School” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;sy;Mon01;10;ar
