The miḥrāb is in stone masonry, much disfigured by thick oil paint. According to the sober ʾAyyūbīd manner, it is only decorated with an interlaced band on the arch of the niche and a cuspidated molding that frames the entire field. The pair of small columns are spolia, Crusaderʾs work; a few human heads were chiseled off when they were put into the miḥrāb, being too heathen.
Al-Ḥanābilā's miḥrāb is an early example of such a half-muqarnaṣ vault and belongs to the same family of design as the East Gate to the Citadel. The miḥrāb vault is much simpler than a portal muqarnaṣ, though, because it springs from a half-cylinder rather than a square base.
Ernst Herzfeld. Damascus, Studies in Architecture IV. Ars Islamica XIII-XIV 1948 (p. 118-138).
Terry Allen. Ayyubid Architecture. Solipsist Press, Occidental, California, 1999.
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