Fatimid Great Palaces
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The Great Palaces of the Fatimid Caliphs (or Great Fatimid Palaces, among other name variants) were a vast and lavish palace complex built in the late 10th century in Cairo, Egypt, to house the Fatimid caliphs, their households, and the administration of their state. There were two main palace complexes, the Eastern and the Western Palace. They were located in the center of the walled city of Cairo around the area still known today as Bayn al-Qasrayn ("Between the Two Palaces").
Overview and background
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The
The palace complex consisted of two main parts: the Eastern Palace (or Great Palace), the first to be laid out in 970 by Jawhar for the arrival of the triumphant Caliph al-Mu'izz, and the Western Palace, which was added under his successor, Caliph al-'Aziz (r. 975–996).[1]: 96 Together they served as the residences of the caliphs and their family throughout the Fatimid period, and were thus also known as the Dar al-Khilafa ("Abode of the Caliphate").[2] Information about the layout and appearance of these palaces comes from a few written reports, and especially from the chronicles of the Arab historian Maqrizi and of the Persian traveler Nasir Khusraw.[2]
The two palaces faced each other across an open square or plaza which became known as Bayn al-Qasrayn (meaning "Between the Two Palaces"), on a pattern repeated from the original Fatimid royal city at al-Mahdiya, Tunisia.[1][3][2] This square was rectangular and measured 105 by 255 meters (344 by 837 ft), taking up over 2.5 hectares (6.2 acres).[4]: 58 It had great public and symbolic significance, and was the site of various ceremonies related to the dynasty. The grand official entrance to the Great Eastern Palace, known as Bab al-Dhahab ("The Golden Gate"), was located here.
The Eastern Palace (Great Palace)
The Eastern Palace, also known as the Great Palace (al-Qasr al-Kabir),
The palace's official grand entrance was through its central western gate called Bab al-Dhahab ("The Golden Gate"), which opened off the Bayn al-Qasrayn plaza. (Its location would have been facing the present-day Mausoleum of Qalawun across the street.[7]) It apparently featured gold brought from Ifriqiya (present-day Tunisia).[4] Above the gate was a balcony at which the caliph would appear to the public on occasions.[1] This entrance led to the "Golden Hall" (Qa'at al-Dhahab or Dar al-Dhahab) via a vaulted passage around 30 meters long.[4] The Golden Hall acted as a throne room where the caliph held his daily audiences and where official receptions and some religious festivals took place.[1][2] Another important hall was known as the Great Iwan, which was crowned by a dome. This was the venue were the Isma'ili clerics and missionaries (da'is) would hold sermons for the palace residents, as well as some of the most important religious festivals. In this hall the caliph's seat was hidden behind a screen or grille known as the Shubbak al-Khalifa ("Caliph's Window").[2] Both the Golden Hall and the Great Iwan were built or completed under al-Aziz.[2][4]
About one quarter of the palace to the northeast was taken up by a great square called Rahbat al-Eid ("Festival Square"), measuring 157 by 105 meters, which was the starting point for the caliph's processions through the city.
In the 12th century, the vizier al-Ma'mun al-Bata'ihi (in office from 1122 to 1125) added three more pavilions to the palace. He was also responsible for building the al-Aqmar Mosque, which still stands today, at the northwestern edge of the palace.[4]
The mausoleum: Turbat al-Za'faraan
Attached to the southern end of the eastern palace was a mausoleum known as Turbat al-Za'faraan ("The Saffron Tomb"), which served as the burial site of the caliphs.
Also adjacent to the caliphs' mausoleum was the later 12th-century shrine which allegedly housed the head of al-Husayn, the son of
The Western Palace
The smaller Western Palace, also known as the Lesser Palace (Qasr al-Saghir al-Gharbi),
Other nearby Fatimid palaces and facilities
Throughout the Fatimid period various other minor palaces and establishments were also built in the areas surrounding the caliphs' palaces. To the south of both palaces were a set of stables.
The palaces after the Fatimids
Cairo was definitively opened to all people
Nonetheless, the main north–south street of Cairo, the Qasaba (
Remnants of the palaces today
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Practically nothing remains of the palaces today, other than the occasional toponym and a few minor physical fragments. Most of the buildings in the Bayn al-Qasrayn area were built on top of the foundations or ruins of the palaces. One of the main courtyards in the
Some artifacts and architectural fragments from the Fatimid Great Palaces are now on display in Cairo's
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Brett, Michael (2017). The Fatimid Empire. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Behrens-Abouseif, Doris (2018). "The Fatimid Dream of a New Capital: Dynastic Patronage and Its Imprint on the Architectural Setting". In Melikian-Chirvani, Assadullah Souren (ed.). The World of the Fatimids. Toronto; Munich: Aga Khan Museum; The Institute of Ismaili Studies; Hirmer. pp. 44–67.
- ^ Çelik, Zeynep, Diane G. Favro, and Richard Ingersoll, eds. Streets: Critical Perspectives on Public Space. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994, p. 72
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac Raymond, André. 1993. Le Caire. Fayard.
- ^ ISBN 9781119068662.
- ^ a b c d AlSayyad, Nezar (2011). Cairo: Histories of a City. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. pp. 61, 65.
- ^ a b c d e Denoix, Sylvie; Depaule, Jean-Charles; Tuchscherer, Michel, eds. (1999). Le Khan al-Khalili et ses environs: Un centre commercial et artisanal au Caire du XIIIe au XXe siècle. Cairo: Institut français d'archéologie orientale.
- ^ Lev, Y. 2001. "Aspects of the Egyptian Society in the Fatimid Period". In Vermeulen, Urbain & J. van Steenbergen (eds.). Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid, and Mamluk Eras III: Proceedings of the 6th, 7th and 8th International Colloquium Organized at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in May 1997, 1998, and 1999. Peeters Publishers. p. 20.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Williams, Caroline (2018). Islamic Monuments in Cairo: The Practical Guide (7th ed.). Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.
- ^ Hanne, Eric J. (2007). Putting the Caliph in His Place: Power, Authority, and the Late Abbasid Caliphate. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. pp. 93–94.
- ^ a b Behrens-Abouseif, Doris. 2007. Cairo of the Mamluks: A History of Architecture and its Culture. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.
- ^ O'Kane, Bernard (with contributions by Mohamed Abbas and Iman R. Abdulfattah). 2012. The Illustrated Guide to the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo. Cairo, New York: The American University in Cairo Press.
Bibliography
- Sayyid, Ayman Fuʾād (1998). La capitale de l'Égypte jusqu'à l'époque fatimide. Al-Qāhira et al-Fusṭāṭ: Essai de reconstitution topographique. Beiruter Texte und Studien (in French). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 3-515-05716-1.