The Art And Architecture of Islamic Cairo

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The appointment of such a distinguished jurist to head a khanqah demonstrates how closely integrated at that time the Sufi orders were with orthodox teaching. He died in 1406 and is buried in the Sufi cemetery outside Cairo. During the reign of al-Nasir Muhammad urban expansion filled the areas between the Citadel and the Fatimid walls near Bab Zuwaila, and the increasing population required the use of two new congregational mosques. Both mosques, the Maridani and the Aqsunqur, were built by sons-in-law of al-Nasir Muhammad. The mosque of al-Maridani (1340) has a hypostyle format similar to the Citadel mosque of al-Nasir Muhammad, although its exterior has nothing of the former’s austerity. The riwaqs are two aisles deep and the prayer hall four, with a prominent dome over the mihrab. The stilted arcading facing the sahn is very high, with antique columns supporting tall piers from which spring pointed arches. Compared to Takiyet al- Sulamaniya (1543) Fatimid Ayyubid Bahri Mamluk Circassian Ottoman (from 1517) Mosque of Ganibak (1426–7) Remains of mosque of Qusun (1329) Sultan Hasan mosque STREET OF SADDLEMAKERS STREET OF TENTMAKERS MUHAMMAD ALI STREET Mosque of al-Salih Tala’i (1160) Madrasa of Inal al-Yusufi (1392) Gate of Mangak al-Silahdar (1346–7) Rifa‘i mosque (1911) Madrasa of Qani Bay Amir Akhor (1420) Mosque of Mu'ayyad (1415–20) Bab Zuwaila (1092) Fatimid city wall (1092) Mosque and sabil of Qijmas al-Ishaqi (1480–1) al-Maridani mosque (1339–40) Madrasa of Sultan Sha’ban (1367) Mosque of Ganika al-Bahlawan (1478–1510) Mosque of Sudun (1401) Madrasa of al-Gay al-Yusufi (1373) Waqf Omar Agha (1652) Mosque of Aslam al-Silahdar (1344) 0 0 Wall of Salah al-Din N House of waqf of Ibrahim Agha (1652) Mosque of Aqsunqur (1346–47) House of waqf Ibrahim Agha (1652) Mosque of Khayrbak (1502) 200 metres 200 yards left: Cairo from mosque of Sultan Hasan to Bab Zuwaila. The Architecture of the Bahri Mamluks 151
top: The mosque of al-Maridani. above: The mosque of Aqsunqur. 152 The Art and Architecture of Islamic Cairo other buildings, the façade above the arcading is reduced to a narrow horizontal strip, decorated in the spandrels by fluted keel-arched panels with alternating rosettes and lozenges. Oculi pierce the spandrels and there is a continuous moulding around the arches forming a small loop at their apex. The most distinctive feature in the sahn is the mashrabiyya screen that fills the arcades of the prayer hall. All the columns are antique, taken from a variety of Pharaonic, Roman and Christian sources. Particularly fine are the red granite columns with gilded Ptolemaic capitals supporting the dome. The prayer hall is richly decorated with a marble panelled dado inlaid with mother-of-pearl and rectilinear Kufic inscriptions bearing the name of Muhammad. The mihrab is adorned with joggled voussoirs, niches, marble marquetry, inlaid mother-of-pearl and turquoise glass. Above this there is a stucco panel carved with a tree design, one of many which once covered the whole of the qibla wall above the dado. Like the al-Nasir mosque there is no conceptual innovation in this building although the decoration is of its period. One notable change, however, is the design of the minaret, which marks a significant departure from the mabkhara style. This minaret consists of two octagonal shafts, with balconies supported on muqarnas corbels, and a third shaft with an open octagonal pavilion crowned with a bulbous finial. This composition and the use of the bulbous finial became a defining feature of later Mamluk architecture. The mosque of Aqsunqur (1347) is also known as the Blue Mosque, because of its profusion of Ottoman tilework. It is a mosque full of structural irregularities due to various restorations. The minaret once had the unique feature of four storeys, but they were reduced to three during restoration work at the beginning of the twentieth century. The composition of the minaret with its two cylindrical shafts is unusual. The first is plain and the second ribbed, and the third is an octagonal pavilion with a bulbous finial. Another unusual feature in the mosque is the use of heavy octagonal piers supporting cross-vaulted bays. It has been suggested that this vaulting system may be of Syrian influence because Amir Aqsunqur, who took an active part in the building of the mosque, had formerly been governor of Tripoli. 19 Much of the cross-vaulting was replaced with columns and flat roofs by Ibrahim Agha during the Ottoman restorations of 1652, and this accounts for the structural irregularity of the building. From the outset the mosque was planned asymmetrically when the mausoleum of the child sultan Kujuk, which predates the mosque, was incorporated into its structure. The mausoleum is
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THE ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF ISLAMIC
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THE ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF ISLAMIC
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Contents Map of Cairo vi Preface 1
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Preface When I first visited Egypt
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Art and Architecture of Islam, 650-
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exploitation and persecution under
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The ecumenical councils defined ort
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any further conquest of Egypt would
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negotiations took place between Cyr
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altogether, Amr subsequently played
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as ‘a people who love death bette
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point for urban development, but as
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He ordered them to place the stone
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Amr frequently preached the khutba
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After Salah al-Din, Sultan Baibars
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Its daily use in Amr’s time, serv
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AL-QATA’I With the fall of the Um
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throne in 870 he divided the empire
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in those days to recycle and use ex
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in an anti-clockwise direction up t
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on the north-west and south-east si
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plaster with cement or concrete. It
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organic and geometrical form. The r
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that of his wives in heroic size, a
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significant and legitimate minority
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knowledge of Egypt, both before and
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evidence here supports that view (t
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Bab al-Futuh, like Bal al-Nasr, is
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Although little remains of its orig
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oth al-Azhar and the palace were wi
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with fluted hoods. The whole façad
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Madrasa and tomb of Gawhar al-Qanaq
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vegetarian dish known as mulukhiyya
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monument, being restored by a numbe
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strong horizontal ribs at the botto
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formal religious gatherings found a
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out invocations, weeping and entrea
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Egypt and Sunni territory ruled by
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wooden fragments of this period in
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where it was developed in glass mak
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ecause this tiraz was woven in the
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sense of legitimacy in the wake of
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that of the delicate stucco mihrab
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craftsmen, although their origin is
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St Catherine’s monastery, Sinai,
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and to her left is a bottle-shaped
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oken by a spotted white underbelly
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and grotesques, and what distinguis
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decorated with palmettes, but the K
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lustre-painted bottle in the David
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from the second quarter of the elev
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shows a central palm tree dividing
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most illustrious lord al-Afdal, the
Page 110 and 111: Raynard of Chatillon’s attacks on
Page 112 and 113: 0 0 100 200 100 200 Tomb of Sayyida
Page 114 and 115: the main Citadel, fortifications we
Page 116 and 117: Ibn Jubayr’s account is supported
Page 118 and 119: gone so far as to offer his sister
Page 120 and 121: largest. Its plan is divided into t
Page 122 and 123: height of 29 metres is almost that
Page 124 and 125: disciplined spirit of the age. The
Page 126 and 127: Mausoleum Madrasa Qibla iwan North-
Page 128 and 129: this new centre of government in th
Page 130 and 131: imprisonment in the Red Tower on th
Page 132 and 133: doors on the exterior are matched i
Page 134 and 135: literature, the sciences, art and a
Page 136 and 137: chase he was murdered, but accounts
Page 138 and 139: tough unyielding personality of its
Page 140 and 141: over the world. The intellectual cl
Page 142 and 143: left: The minaret and dome of the S
Page 144: patterns of the central window gril
Page 147 and 148: 138 The Art and Architecture of Isl
Page 149 and 150: above: The sahn of the madrasa of S
Page 151 and 152: elow: The minaret of the madrasa of
Page 155 and 156: ight: The khanqah- madrasa of Amir
Page 157 and 158: elow: The khanqah of Baibars al-Jas
Page 159: 150 The Art and Architecture of Isl
Page 163 and 164: elow: Mosque of Sultan Hasan taken
Page 165 and 166: elow: Plan of the Sultan Hasan mosq
Page 169 and 170: above: The qibla iwan of the Sultan
Page 171 and 172: above: Mausoleum of Gur-i Amir, Sam
Page 173 and 174: CHAPTER SIX The Decorative Arts of
Page 175 and 176: above: Twelfth-century Persian frit
Page 177 and 178: above: Brass basin incised and inla
Page 179 and 180: top: Brass candlestick inlaid with
Page 181 and 182: above: Incense burner: 1268-79 (Bri
Page 183 and 184: elow: Brass basin inlaid with silve
Page 185 and 186: top: Mosque lamp: c. 1350-60. above
Page 187 and 188: top: Doors of the Sultan Hasan mosq
Page 189 and 190: above: Panel from the mausoleum of
Page 191 and 192: top: Stone minbar in the khanqah of
Page 193 and 194: above: Frontispiece of a Qur’an w
Page 199 and 200: above: ‘Hand-Washing Machine’ f
Page 201 and 202: above: Frontispiece to the Maqamat
Page 203 and 204: above: The Simonetti Carpet: late f
Page 205 and 206: above: Child’s tunic: late fourte
Page 207 and 208: CHAPTER SEVEN The Architecture of t
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above: View of the Eastern Cemetery
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above: The domes of the khanqah of
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above: One of the mausoleum chamber
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208 The Art and Architecture of Isl
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above: Khanqah-madrasa complex of B
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top: Plan of funerary complex of Su
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elow: Plan of funerary complex of A
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elow: Plan of funerary complex of Q
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masonry and bands of joggled lintel
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marbling in the mihrab has been str
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oundels. The largest in the centre
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al-Ahmar and Sharia Abu Huraybah, n
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The Mamluk factions that precipitat
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lower floors contained latrines, ni
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cessors. Egypt then became a provin
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The use of terracotta- and biscuit-
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above: Interior of the mosque of Mu
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Notes and References 240 The Art an
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Chronology of Dynasties and Rulers
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Table of Dynasties Islamic Calendar
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Acknowledgements The Publishers wou
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Armenian district 104 Armenians 46,
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ewers (aquamaniles) metalwork 83-4,
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al-Salih’s (Salihiya) 116-18, 137
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60-1, 225 Philo of Byzantium 188 Ph
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ulers 257 textiles 73-6, 195 woodwo
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The Art And Architecture of Islamic Cairo

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