The Wikala of Sultan Qaytbay or Wakala of Sultan Qaytbay (among other variations) is an urban
caravanserai (''wikala'' or ''wakala'') and ''rab'' (apartment complex) built by
Sultan al-Ashraf Abu al-Nasr Qaitbay in 1481 CE in
Islamic Cairo
Islamic Cairo ( ar, قاهرة المعز, lit= Al-Mu'izz's Cairo), also called Historic Cairo or Medieval Cairo, refers generically to the historic areas of Cairo, Egypt, that existed before the city's modern expansion during the 19th and 20th ce ...
, the historic medieval district of
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 ...
.
Historical context and location
![Wikala Qaytbay at bab al-nasr gate](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Wikala_Qaytbay_at_bab_al-nasr_gate.jpg)
The structure is located next to the inner side of
Bab al-Nasr, a monumental 11th-century fortified gate in Cairo's
Fatimid
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dyna ...
-era walls. This location placed it at one of the main entrances to the city and at the beginning of one of the major streets leading towards its center.
Sultan
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 ...
, one of the most prolific architectural patrons in Mamluk history, had this wikala built in 1481. While the
Mamluk Empire was nearing its decline, Qaytbay oversaw a period of relative stability and prosperity, and commerce was still vigorous. Many similar wikalas were built along the city's major commercial zones, such as Qaytbay's earlier
Sabil-kuttab-wikala built in 1477 near
al-Azhar Mosque
Al-Azhar Mosque ( ar, الجامع الأزهر, al-Jāmiʿ al-ʾAzhar, lit=The Resplendent Congregational Mosque, arz, جامع الأزهر, Gāmiʿ el-ʾazhar), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the histori ...
, the later
wikala built by Sultan al-Ghuri, or the various
khans
Khan may refer to:
*Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan
*Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name
* Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...
and wikalas built around
Khan al-Khalili.
Like other Mamluk buildings, this structure combines more than one function, and like some other wikalas, it was both a caravanserai for merchants and a ''rab or residential complex with rented units.
The wikala has in modern times been used as a
tenement
A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...
(not unlike its original function), but has suffered in part as a result of this and has lost some of its elements.
It is under comprehensive restoration as of December 2015 by the
Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities. There are concerns regarding relocation of shops and workshops that occupy the front of the wikala.
Architecture
The structure follows a standard model of wikala buildings from the late
Burji Mamluk period onwards, of which the best-preserved example today is the
Wikala of Sultan al-Ghuri built in 1505 further south.
Its street facade is centered around a relatively monumental stone portal with stone vaulting and ornamentation typical of Qaytbay's time, including
ablaq masonry and
muqarnas
Muqarnas ( ar, مقرنص; fa, مقرنس), also known in Iranian architecture as Ahoopāy ( fa, آهوپای) and in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe, is a form of ornamented vaulting in Islamic architecture. It is the archetypal form of I ...
carving. On either side, on the ground level, are spaces for shops, still present today. On the upper floors are the limited remains of
mashrabiyyas (wooden screens) which characterized the living spaces, though much of the building's ruined upper façade appears to have been filled-in by more recent and more simple construction.
The main portal entrance opens to a passage covered by a
Mamluk-style groin vault
A groin vault or groined vault (also sometimes known as a double barrel vault or cross vault) is produced by the intersection at right angles of two barrel vaults. Honour, H. and J. Fleming, (2009) ''A World History of Art''. 7th edn. London: Lau ...
, which in turn leads to the main courtyard which dominates the interior floor plan.
Around this courtyard were rooms for storage on the first floor (for use by merchants and their animals), while the upper floors were occupied by living quarters. These upper floors functioned as a ''rab, a residential complex with apartments that were rented and whose revenues were then used for the upkeep of this building or possibly for other
waqfs
A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or '' mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitab ...
(charitable foundations) elsewhere. Each apartment unit was spread over two levels, with the upper level having rooms that looked onto a reception room (''qa'a'') on the level below, which in turn had a view onto the street outside.
External links
Wikala of Qaytbay at Discover Islamic Art (Museum With No Frontiers)(includes pictures and floor plans)
Wikala al-Sultan Qaytbay at Archnet(includes more pictures)
References
Further reading
* Meinecke, Michael. ''Islamic Cairo: architectural conservation and urban development of the historic centre : proceedings of a seminar, 39.'' London: Art and Archaeology Research Papers, 1980.
* Meinecke, Michael. ''Die Mamlukische Architektur in Ägypten und Syrien'' (648/1250 bis 923/1517), I/198, II/420-421. Glückstadt: Verlag J. J. Augustin, 1992.
{{coord, 30.0541, 31.2646, type:landmark_region:EG, display=title
Qaitbay
Buildings and structures completed in 1481
Buildings and structures in Cairo
Mamluk architecture in Egypt
Medieval Cairo
Muizz Street
15th-century establishments in Africa
Historical Monuments in Cairo