Cairo, kanqa di baybars al jashankin, 1306-09, cortile

The Khanqah of Baybars II is a medieval building located on historic Sharia Gamaliya 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 ...

. It was built between 1306 and 1310 in the medieval Islamic Cairo to accommodate four hundred

Sufis Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

and children of the

Mamluk Sultanate The Mamluk Sultanate ( ar, سلطنة المماليك, translit=Salṭanat al-Mamālīk), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz (western Arabia) from the mid-13th to early 16t ...

. This is the oldest '' khanqah'' or

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

that has survived in modern Cairo.

Builder

Baibars al-Jashankir () or Baibars II (d.1310, Cairo) (royal name: al-Malik al-Muzaffar Rukn al-Din Baibars al-Jashankir al-Mansuri; Arabic: الملك المظفر ركن الدين بيبرس الجاشنكير المنصورى) (Nickname: Abu al-Fath (Arabic: أبوالفتح)), was known as al-gashankir, "the taster", a court position he held at one point. He served as the

Atabek Atabeg, Atabek, or Atabey is a hereditary title of nobility of Turkic origin, indicating a governor of a nation or province who was subordinate to a monarch and charged with raising the crown prince. The first instance of the title's use was wit ...

of Egypt and after the death of Emir Salar, he became the Sultan of Egypt in 1309. He sponsored lavish decoration of the building.

Building

Within the confines of the irregular site, the various functions of the Khanqah were interwoven into an architecturally rich building complex. The elegant facade has an imposing arched entrance that projects into the street. The doorway is set back in a

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

recess covered with a hood of stalactites. A block of pharaonic stone engraved with

hieroglyphics Egyptian hieroglyphs (, ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt, used for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with some 1,000 distinct characters.There were about 1,00 ...

was used for the doorsill. The minaret, capped with a ribbed dome that was once covered with green

faience Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an oxide of tin to the slip of a lead glaze, was a major a ...

tiles, is located on the south side of the building. The first tier is square and trimmed with rows of stalactites, or Muqarnas vaulting, while the second is cylindrical.

References

External links

Funerary Complex of Baybars al-Jashankir
at ArchNet
Funerary Complex of Baybars al-Jashankir
{{Islamic Cairo Medieval Cairo Muizz Street 1300 establishments Buildings and structures in Cairo Mamluk architecture in Egypt 13th-century establishments in the Mamluk Sultanate

Builder

Building

See also

References

External links