Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Mosque and Madrasa aṣ-Ṣābūnīyya



Location: Maydān Street near Bāb aṣ-Ṣaġīr's cemetery.


This curious structure was built around 1460 CE. It combines the cruciform plan of the ancient madrasa with that of the funerary mosque with its domed mausoleum. Its lofty multicolored façade with inlaid decorations and black and white stones, the richness of its doorway, the rather affected elegance of its minaret, all betray the baroque tendency of Mamlūk architecture in decline. In the foreground are some of the gravestones of the famous cemetery of Bāb aṣ-Ṣaġīr', where, among other dignitaries of the past, rests the great Caliph Muʿāyīa. 












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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