Sunday, August 30, 2020

Madrasa Nuriya al-Kubra


 

Located near the entrance of Suq al-Khayyatin (Taylor's Market), this religious school ocupies according to some authors, the place where caliphs Mu'awiya and Hisham once resided. The door opens into a beautiful portal featuring a hanging key and the lintel still preserves the text of foundation including an inventory of the properties, the revenue of which was designated for the profit of the establishment. The edifice was achieved in April 1172,  towards the end of the reign of Zangid sultan Nureddin Mahmud. 

Despite later adjustments, including a disastrous restoration in 1990, this monument still preserves its original plan and general character. The divers elements of the entrance are laid out in the same manner as those of Nureddin's Hospital (the famous Bimaristan): an external door inside a portal, a narrow passageway, a cross-vaulted hall, a second door, and an iwan. A pond occupies the center of the courtyard and is linked to a fountain in the west iwan via a small canal.  

The south part of the courtyard is occupied by a prayer hall fronted with a portico. Of the great north iwan, more than eight meters long, nothing remains apart from the arch. The burial chamber opens onto the south side of the entrance hall. It has the form of a square and receives light through two vaulted windows opening onto the street. 






Gérard DegeorgeDamas: Des origines aux Mamluks. L'Harmattan 1997. 


Annales Archéologiques Arabes Syriennes. XXXV 1985 (photo).

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