Publication Date
813 AH / 1411 AD
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;eg;Mon01;26;ar
Library Location
The building is located in the Mamluk Cemetery (Northern Cemetery), Cairo, Egypt
Date
813 AH / 1411 AD
Notes
The building is considered one of the largest complexes established in Egypt's cemeteries to serve various purposes. It includes a mosque, a khanqah for the establishment of Sufis, a school for receiving religious knowledge, two shrines, and two avenues, each surmounted by a book for teaching children. The main facade of the building is located on the northwestern side, and at each end there is an entrance to the complex crowned by a trefoil arch. The western entrance is the one used at present. At each end of this interface there is a SpiLok writer. The façade is surmounted by two graceful minarets, which are considered among the most prominent examples of Mamluk minarets in terms of precision of workmanship and beauty of proportions. The horizontal layout of the complex is approximately square in shape and its dimensions are 85 x 85 m. It consists of a large open court with dimensions of 40 x 37 m surrounded by four ionas. The largest and deepest of these iwans is the qibla iwan, which measures 34 x 17 m and consists of three corridors with arches parallel to the qibla wall and other arches perpendicular to them. This iwan is covered by twenty-one low brick domes, the transitional areas of which are formed from spherical triangles, thus resembling the domes of the porticoes in the Fatimid Al-Aqmar Mosque. The mihrab is topped with a dome that is higher than the rest of the domes of the Iwan, and its transitional area is provided with corner muqarnas. The iwan facing the qibla consists of three corridors covered with small domes whose transitional areas consist of spherical triangles. Each of the two side iwans consists of a single portico covered by small domes, and behind these two iwans there are Sufi retreats. Located on either side of the qibla iwan are two shrines, each of which consists of a square-shaped room entered from one side of the qibla iwan through an opening provided with a veil of hollow wood adorned with geometric decorations of the utmost precision and beauty. Each of the shrines is covered by a high stone dome with a diameter of 14 m, in which the transitional area consists of several rows of muqarnas. The two domes are decorated on the outside with engraved geometric decorations consisting of winding lines that take the form of a continuous series of the number “7.” These decorations are considered the pinnacle of precision and creativity. The two domes are among the oldest large stone domes built in Cairo, and they indicate the extent of the sophistication Mamluk engineering had reached. Sultan al-Zahir Barquq (ruled in the years 784-791 AH / 1382-1389 AD and 792-801 AH / 1390-1399 AD) was buried in the northeastern shrine. Some historical sources indicate that Sultan Barquq instructed his son Faraj to bury him in the mausoleum of this complex and not in the madrasa and khanqah building that he built. Sultan Barquq in 788 AH / 1386 AD on Al-Muizz Street in Cairo. The sons of Sultan Barquq were also buried in this shrine. Khawand Shaqra, the wife of Al-Zahir Barquq, and the daughter of Al-Nasir Faraj were buried in the southwestern shrine. In that it contains two shrines, this complex is similar to the Umm al-Sultan Shaaban Madrasa (built in 790 AH / 1369 AD). The most important feature of this building is that it combines the style of madrasas with iwans and the style of mosques with rows of perpendicular columns. The complex is also distinguished by the symmetry of the architectural elements on its northwestern facade, which is evident in the placement of the two avenues on both sides of the facade, in the symmetry of the two entrances to the complex, and in the two minarets, each of which is located next to one of the two entrances. The symmetry also appears in the northeastern facade of the building, where the similar domes of the two shrines are placed on either end of the facade.
Sample Text
Tarek Torky “Khanqah and Madrasah of Sultan Faraj bin Barquq” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;eg;Mon01;26;ar
