The porch is a rare example of a mixture of styles: Classical (the lintel); Iranian (the bay with stalactic motif over the door); Mesopotamian (the dome on a honeycombed pyramid).
More often called "māristān", a deformation of a Persian word, this hospital was founded by Nūr ad-Dīn in 1154 and served also as a medieval school. It was the first and most famous hospital not only in the Islamic East, but of its period anywhere. Preserved practically intact, it has an architectural form akin to the traditional madrasa: four ʾiwāns facing each other in pairs around a courtyard in the center of which is a fountain. The two principal ʾiwāns, to the south and east, serve respectively as prayer-room and consultation room. A high dome covers the vestibule which opens up to the outside through a monumental gateway whose honeycombed pediment is very ancient.
Jacques Ghislain de Maussion de Favières. Damascus, Baghdad: Capitals and lands of the caliphs. Translation to English by Edward J. Banks. Librairie orientale (Dar el-Mashreq), Beirut, Lebanon. 1972.
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