The Beshtak Palace or Qasr Bashtak ("Palace of Bashtak") is a historic
palace and
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
, built by the
Mamluk
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
amir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...
Sayf al-Din Bashtak al-Nasiri in the 14th century.
It is located on Shari'a al-Mu'izz (
al-Mu'izz street
Al-Muizz li-Din Allah al-Fatimi Street ( ar, شارع المعز لدين الله الفاطمي), or al-Muizz street for short, is a major north-to-south street in the walled city of historic Cairo, Egypt. It is one of Cairo's oldest streets as ...
), in the area known as
Bayn al-Qasrayn
Bayn al-Qasrayn () is the district and plaza between two former palace complexes constructed in the 10th century by the Fatimid dynasty in medieval Islamic Cairo, within present day Cairo, Egypt. It was an original element in the Fatimid Caliphate ...
("between the two palaces", in reference to the
great Fatimid palaces The Great Palaces of the Fatimid Caliphs (or Great Fatimid Palaces, among other name variants) were a vast and lavish palace complex built in the late 10th century in Cairo, Egypt, to house the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid caliphs, their households, a ...
that formerly stood here
[AlSayyad, Nezar. 2011. ''Cairo: Histories of a City''. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.]).
History
In 1262, Sultan
al-Zahir Baybars transferred parts of the
Fatimid palaces of Cairo to the property of the state treasury, allowing thenceforth for the sale and redevelopment of property in this central area of the city.
In 1334-1339, Bashtak, a powerful amir (i.e. an officer or lord in the Mamluk hierarchy) who was married to a daughter of Sultan
al-Nasir Muhammad
Al-Malik an-Nasir Nasir ad-Din Muhammad ibn Qalawun ( ar, الملك الناصر ناصر الدين محمد بن قلاوون), commonly known as an-Nasir Muhammad ( ar, الناصر محمد), or by his kunya: Abu al-Ma'ali () or as Ibn Qal ...
and held the prestigious court position of the Sultan's Master of the Robes, built a residence and stables over part of the Eastern Palace adjacent to the main street.
[Williams, Caroline. 2008 (6th ed.). ''Islamic Monuments in Cairo: The Practical Guide''. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.]
The remains of the palace were restored in 1983 by the German Archaeological Institute and constitute a rare surviving example of 14th century domestic architecture in Cairo.
Description
Only part of the palace remains today. However, the edifice was originally five stories tall, and featured running water on all floors.
Outside, at street level, the building had openings for shops whose revenues would have contributed to the amir's income, possibly following a model from Roman times.
The most impressive surviving part of the palace is the large ''
qa'a
Qa'a (also Qáa or Ka'a) (literal meaning: "his arm is raised") was the last king of the First Dynasty of Egypt. He reigned for 33 years at the end of the 30th century BC.
Identity
Manetho calls Qa'a Biénechês and gives him a reign of 26 y ...
'' or reception hall. The hall features a coffered wooden ceiling,
stucco windows of coloured glass, and a fountain of inlaid marble in the centre, which were decorative elements typical of the time and found in other buildings from the same era, like the nearby
Mausoleum of Sultan Qalawun. The north and south sides of the hall also feature ''
mashrabiyya'' (i.e. latticed wood screen) windows on the upper floors, allowing for women or other members of the household to privately watch events or festivities happening in the hall below.
File:Bashtak palace reception hall.jpg, View of the ''qa'a'' (reception hall) of the Bashtak palace.
File:Bashtak palace reception hall ceiling.jpg, View of the ceiling of the ''qa'a'' (reception hall) of the Bashtak palace.
File:Bashtak palace reception hall fountain.jpg, Marble fountain in the ''qa'a'' (reception hall) of the Bashtak palace.
See also
*
List of Historic Monuments in Cairo
The historic monuments of Cairo have been listed in several iterations dating back to the late nineteenth century that were produced by the Comité de Conservation des Monuments de l'Art Arabe ( ar, لجنت حفظ الاثار العربية, ...
References
External links
Bishtak Palace
{{Islamic Cairo
Museums in Cairo
Palaces in Cairo
History museums in Egypt
Historic house museums in Egypt
Mamluk architecture in Egypt
Muizz Street