Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Barquq

Coordinates: 30°03′0.6″N 31°15′40.5″E / 30.050167°N 31.261250°E / 30.050167; 31.261250
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Mosque-Madrasa-Khanqah of Az-Zaher Barquq
مسجد ومدرسة وخانقاه الظاهر برقوق
Muizz Street, Islamic Cairo, Cairo, Egypt
Architecture
TypeMosque, Madrasa, Khanqah, Mausoleum
StyleMamluk, Islamic
Completed1386 CE
(788 AH)

Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Barquq or Mosque-Madrasa-Khanqah of Az-Zaher Barquq (

Mamluk Sultanate
.

The complex is situated in the traditional area of

Mamluk monumental architecture in Cairo, in the section of al-Mu'izz street known as Bayn al-Qasrayn
.

Patron and historical context

Interior of the prayer area in 1867

"Burji" Mamluks
, meaning Mamluks "of the tower".

Despite the regime change, Barquq's construction shows architectural and artistic continuity with preceding Mamluk buildings. His complex shows important similarities in form and layout with the earlier and much larger

Madrasa of Al-Nasir Muhammad and the funerary complex of Sultan Qalawun
(both important Mamluk sultans of the past), forming a long continuous line of imposing religious complexes along this street in the heart of Cairo.

View of Barquq's complex in the environment of al-Mu'izz street.

Furthermore, being part of Bayn al-Qasrayn (along al-Mu'izz street), the mosque is embedded in the fabric of Egyptian society and the daily life of Egyptian citizens. One of its lesser known purposes is as a shelter for evicted families in the 1970s.[6] The street the mosque is located on has inspired many works of art and literature most famously the novel "Bayn al-Qasrayn" or palace walk by Naguib Mahfouz. The film which was inspired by the novel, also includes many images of the mosque in its background.[7]

Construction

The construction of Barquq's madrasa and funerary complex began in December 1384 (

Rabi' I 788). Since the site was in the busy heart of Cairo, some existing structures, including a khan or caravanserai, had to be demolished before construction.[8]: 225  Although Mamluk monuments were often built with the help of forced labour (with either prisoners of war or by corvée), Barquq's construction was reported to have used only paid workers.[8]
: 44–45, 225 

Barquq appointed his

Khan al-Khalili
, which gave its name to the famous bazaar still there today in Cairo.

Description

Entrance portal.
The lantern and vaults over the vestibule.
Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan.[8][9] The building also includes a mausoleum whose dome is visible from the street. Barquq had the remains of his father moved and buried in the mausoleum of his complex when it was completed. Barquq himself, however, later wished to be buried in a new mausoleum in the Northern Cemetery of Cairo, a task completed by his son Faraj.[8]
: 225 

There is a mansion named Zakat Khan at the same location, whose construction was also supervised by Emir Jarkas Al Khalili, the prince of Akhor.[2]

Exterior

The exterior facade of the complex appears to have been carefully designed to maximize its prominence along a street which already features other major monuments: the minaret is at the far northern corner and is superimposed visually with the dome (a common arrangement), while at the southern corner the entrance portal projects both horizontally and vertically from the surrounding facades (a feature known as a pishtaq).[8][5][9] A foundation inscription runs along the upper part of the wall, just below a row of muqarnas sculpting, while another Qur'anic inscription can be found at a lower level around the doorway. The Qur'anic inscription features an ornate and unusual calligraphic style by which the top lines of letters join together into flower-like knots.[9] The two round windows visible along the exterior wall correspond to the mihrabs of the madrasa and the mausoleum.[8]

The entrance portal rises up to an ornamental stone vault with muqarnas carving. Below this is a large panel of inlaid marble, similar to an example found in the Sultan Hassan madrasa's vestibule and possibly brought from Syria.[8] The bronze doors of the entrance are finely decorated with geometric patterns based on 18-pointed and 12-pointed stars, and features another inscription.[9]

Interior

Qibla wall with mihrab in the middle.
The exceptional gilt wooden ceiling of the sanctuary iwan.

The entrance vestibule, much like the one at Sultan Hassan's madrasa, is topped by a

sabil (a fountain or pavilion for water) in the middle of the courtyard is a recent addition by the late 19th-century "Comité" overseeing its restoration, though some kind of fountain was still there originally.[9][8] The iwan on the eastern side (towards the direction of prayer) is covered by the largest single wooden roof in Mamluk architecture and shelters the main sanctuary or prayer hall of the complex, while the other three iwans are covered by stone vaults.[8] The main prayer hall has a basilica-style plan similar to that found in the madrasa of Qalawun's complex, with columns upholding the roof. However, its richly painted and carved wooden ceiling is innovative and is considered and outstanding feature of this monument, with patterns resembling those in contemporary illumination of Qur'ans.[9][8][5] Both the floor and the qibla wall (the wall marking the direction of prayer) are adorned with marble mosaics and paneling. A rare and unusual detail are the mihrab-shaped marble mosaics lining the floor at the foot of the qibla wall.[8][9] The main mihrab
itself is covered in multicolored marble mosaics and flanked by four decorative columns (once again, similar to the mihrab of the Sultan Hassan madrasa).

The windows around the complex feature the usual stucco frames with colored glass, though the roundels above the mihrabs have wooden frames.[8] At the back of the building (on the western side) were most of the cells and rooms for the resident students and Sufis, but today this section is in ruins.[8]

Mausoleum

Interior of the mausoleum.

Adjoining the prayer hall on its northern side, but separated by a wall, is the mausoleum chamber under the dome. The dome itself was originally made of wood but was reconstructed in brick by the Comité in 1893.[8] The transition between the round dome above and the square chamber below is achieved by the original (though restored) wooden pendentives with muqarnas forms and with gilded decoration of similar quality to that on the prayer hall ceiling. The mihrab and qibla wall here also have marble decoration, much like the qibla wall in the prayer hall, except that the mihrab here is noticeably narrower. The mihrab was possibly designed this way so as to allow the flanking windows to be wide enough for Qur'an reciters to sit in them, from where they could be heard by those passing on the street outside.[9] As mentioned above, Barquq himself was not buried here in the end, but the chamber contains the tomb of one of his daughters, Fatima.[5]

Conservation and Theft

The original dome was built from wood that was covered in lead. The dome had to be reconstructed in 1893 using bricks.[3] From May 2013 till February 2014, there were attempts made by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston to conserve the minbar door. They also aimed to study the intricate wood work that is characteristic of Mamluk style. The frame of the door was found to be made of Aleppo pine and was inlaid with ebony and ivory. Furthermore, the ivory plaques were found to have green and red fill. The red fills were made up of a combination of beeswax and hematite and the green fills were made up of Copper salts. They also utilized Carbon-14 dating, which determined that all elements of the wood originate as far back as the 14th and 15th centuries. X-ray imaging was utilized to determine the appropriate stabilization method.[10] The original minbar of the mosque was stolen and replaced by the current minbar in the fifteenth century. The mosque has also been a target of more recent thefts in December 2012 and 2013, where much of the ornaments on the minbar and mosque door were stolen.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ "مسجد السلطان برقوق - البوابة الدينية". Archived from the original on 2016-09-19. Retrieved 2017-07-22.
  2. ^ a b المسالك::وصف جامع السلطان برقوق". www.almasalik.com.
  3. ^ a b Behrens-Abouseif, Doris. Cairo of the Mamluks: a History of the Architecture and Its Culture. I. B. Tauris , 2007.
  4. ^ Clot, André. 2009. L'Égypte des Mamelouks: L'empire des esclaves 1250-1517. Paris: Éditions Perrin.
  5. ^ a b c d Williams, Caroline. 2008 (6th ed.). Islamic Monuments in Cairo: The Practical Guide. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.
  6. ^ Mahdy, Hossam. Approaches to the Conservation of Islamic Architecture: The Case of Cairo. ICCROM-ATHAR Regional Conservation Centre, 2017.
  7. ^ Maḥfūẓ Najīb. Palace Walk. American University in Cairo Press, 2014.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Behrens-Abouseif, Doris. 2007. Cairo of the Mamluks: A History of Architecture and its Culture. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h O'Kane, Bernard (2016). The Mosques of Egypt. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.
  10. ^ "Conservation in Action: Minbar Door, February 2014." Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Feb. 2014, https://www.mfa.org/collections/conservation/conservation-in-action/minbar-door/february-2014.
  11. ^ "'البوابة' ترصد أخطر التعديات على المساجد الأثرية." البوابة نيوز, https://web.archive.org/web/20180618052721/http://www.albawabhnews.com/1370423.

External links

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