The Mausoleum of Tarabay al-Sharifi is a late

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'') ...

funerary complex in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

comprising the tomb of

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 cerem ...

Tarabay al-Sharifi as well as a sabil and

kuttab A kuttab ( ar, كُتَّاب ''kuttāb'', plural: ''kataatiib'', ) or maktab ( ar, مَكْتَب) is a type of elementary school in the Muslim world. Though the ''kuttab'' was primarily used for teaching children in reading, writing, grammar, ...

(primary school), built in 1503–1504. It is located in the Bab al-Wazir Cemetery on the edge of the Darb al-Ahmar district of historic Cairo. An adjacent gate gives access from this district to the rest of the cemetery. It is considered a good example of late

Mamluk architecture Mamluk architecture was the architectural style under the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517), which ruled over Egypt, the Levant, and the Hijaz from their capital, Cairo. Despite their often tumultuous internal politics, the Mamluk sultans were proli ...

, combining artistic and ornamental sophistication with practical functionality in the arrangement of its different elements. Tarabay al-Sharifi mausoleum complex

Amir Tarabay was a mamluk slave purchased by

Qaytbay Sultan Abu Al-Nasr Sayf ad-Din Al-Ashraf Qaitbay ( ar, السلطان أبو النصر سيف الدين الأشرف قايتباي) (c. 1416/14187 August 1496) was the eighteenth Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt from 872 to 901 A.H. (1468–149 ...

who served as leader of the mamluks in Egypt under the reign of Sultan al-Ghuri (1501–1516). Also adjacent and attached to the same site is the

ribat A ribāṭ ( ar, رِبَـاط; hospice, hostel, base or retreat) is an Arabic term for a small fortification built along a frontier during the first years of the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb to house military volunteers, called ''murabitun'' ...

and mausoleum of Azdumur, built in the same period. Azdumur was another mamluk purchased by Qaytbay, though it is unclear what relationship existed, if any, between him and Tarabay. The site was restored between 2006 and 2009 by the

Aga Khan Trust for Culture The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a family of institutions created by Aga Khan IV with distinct but complementary mandates to improve the welfare and prospects of people in the developin ...

, which has carried out other conservation initiatives in the Darb al-Ahmar area of Cairo.

References

{{Islamic Cairo Buildings and structures in Cairo Mamluk architecture in Egypt Mausoleums in Egypt