Читать книгу Islamic Monuments in Cairo - Caroline Williams - Страница 11
ОглавлениеThe Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun and Sharia Saliba
Mosque of Sultan Gaqmaq
Mausoleum-Khanqah-Madrasa of Salar and Sangar al-Gawli **
Madrasa of Amir Sarghatmish *
Madrasa of Sultan Qaytbay **
Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun ***
Bayt al-Kritliya (Gayer-Anderson Museum) ***
Mosque of Azbak al-Yusufi **
Mosque-Mausoleum of Hasan Pasha Tahir *
Mosque of Taghri Bardi **
Mosque-Khanqah of Amir Shaykhu **
Mosque of Qanibay al-Muhammadi
Sabil-Kuttab of Sultan Qaytbay ***
See map 2
Until the fourteenth century, this area between Old Cairo-Fustat and al-Qahira, which comprised both the former site of the Tulunid royal suburb known as al-Qata’i‘ and a large pond known as Birkat al-Fil (‘elephant pond,’ because its long extension looked like a trunk), was dotted with waste and rubbish heaps, interspersed with cemeteries and individual estates or parks. The redevelopment of the Citadel under Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad in the fourteenth century led to the transformation of this zone into an urban area and Sharia Saliba into an important street. The street intersects with the older Qasaba/Sharia al-Khalifa (Chapter 8, Section A), hence its name Saliba, or ‘cross.’ The area flourished when amirs built townhouses and palaces along the shores of Birkat al-Fil and endowed madrasas and khanqahs along this route leading to the Citadel. The street can be walked in either direction: the ‘flow’ of monuments seems better from the west, but parking is best at the eastern end of the street.
Sabil of Ibrahim Bey al-Munastirli (No. 508) 1714/1126. Sharia Saliba starts as Sharia ‘Abd al-Magid al-Labbana just off Maydan Sayyida Zaynab. Fifty meters southeast of the maydan, on the right, are the remains of this early eighteenth-century fountain, originally with two façades, distinguished by its decoration of tiles and almost random placement of rosettes and squares around the sabil grille. The top story is missing.
Mosque of Sultan Gaqmaq (No. 217) 1449/853. One hundred and fifty meters eastward on the left, with the Ottoman cap on the lower-story base of the Mamluk minaret, is the mosque built by the sultan whose palace was in this area. Gaqmaq had served Faraq ibn Barquq, al-Mu’ayyad Shaykh, and Barsbay before he became sultan himself at an advanced age. He was unusual among sultans for his frugal lifestyle and disregard for the trappings of power. He was a humble man and a very pious Muslim who reigned in a time, 1438–53, of economic instability. His buildings therefore are minimally decorated: there are stalactites in the trilobed hood of the portal and over the windows on the façade. Inside, a plain mihrab sets off the qibla wall. In 2008, the SCA was restoring it.
Sabil-Kuttab of Yusuf Bey (No. 219) 1634/1044. These remains are on the right as one continues east.
Mausoleum-Khanqah-Madrasa of Salar and Sangar al-Gawli ** (No. 221) 1303–304/703. Tucked into an elbow of Sharia al-Khudari, as the street is called here, this double-domed complex contains the tombs of the amir Sayf al-Din Salar (under the dome nearest the minaret) and his friend the amir ‘Alam al-Din Sangar al-Gawli. As head of the army (atabak al-‘asakir), Salar played an important role in the agitated times that marked the beginning of the fourteenth century. He shared power with the amir Baybars al-Gashankir during the second reign and minority of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad. In 1309 Amir Salar was thrown into prison, where he died of starvation. Amir Sangar was for a long time governor of Gaza, where he built many mosques, and also governor of Hama in Syria. He died peacefully in 1344/745, aged almost one hundred. The names of both amirs are connected with restoration done on several mosques in the early fourteenth century.
The façade of this monument has several interesting features. The adjoining domes, although common in northern Syria, are unique in Cairo and attractively distinctive. They are brick with stucco ribs, which give them the appearance of jelly molds. The façades of the mausoleums are related but differentiated. Each façade is divided into three panels, two narrow ones on either side of a broader one. The stalactite cornice that covers the broad panel in the first tomb is repeated above the narrow ones of the second tomb; the stalactite cornice above the side panels of the first tomb covers the broad panel in the second tomb.
In the evolution of Cairene minarets, this one is important. It exhibits a marked elongation of the two top stories at the expense of the lower shaft, and the addition of a circular lantern supporting the mabkhara, or a small, slightly bulbous dome resembling an incense burner, is a new feature for the period, a move toward the colonnaded pavilion characteristic of later Mamluk minarets.
The complex stands on the northwest outcropping of the Muqattam Hills known as Qal‘at al-Kabsh, which means ‘the citadel of the ram.’ This was the general site of the barracks of Ibn Tulun’s city, al-Qata’i‘. A flight of stairs leads up to the entrance, from which another flight ascends to the main level of the complex. At the top of the stairs are two doors. The one straight ahead leads to an open corridor that runs east-west and into a small tomb with a stone dome, added in 1341. The cenotaph, in disrepair, offers no clue as to who is buried here. From the corridor, two doors on the right lead into the mausoleums. The tomb of Sangar is at the end, a small, plain chamber in which a plain marble cenotaph lies in front of a plain mihrab. The only adornments are two bands of inscription (Qur’an 2:284–86). Salar’s tomb next door is much more ornate. The decoration is concentrated in the marble inlay of the mihrab and the qibla wall, but is also present in the carefully carved wooden doors of the closets and panels of the cenotaph, and in the triple-tiered stalactite-squinch system.
One of the outstanding features of this building is the beautiful cut-stone screen that separates the corridor from the rear courtyard of the mosque. It is unique in Egypt. The panels on the left and in the center have a centralizing pattern of palmettes, while the one on the right has a pattern or vine-leat motifs with bunches or grapes in the center, in the courtyard (in 2008 unfortunately full of debris) is a fine band of stucco inscription along the wall and a small mihrab. One obtains from here a good view of the domes and minaret, and of the trilobed merlons around the roof, a new form of cresting for this time.
Diagonally across the corridor is a large double room the function of which is uncertain. Since the foundation is described on the façade as a makan or ‘place’ and since this area is not Mecca-oriented, the space may have been added later to accommodate a Sufi community. The present mihrab is modern. The second-story windows with fine grilles illuminated the interior living units arranged around the southern and western sides.
This monument was restored by the Comité in 1894, and it is hoped will be attended to again soon.
Madrasa of Amir Sarghatmish * (No. 218) 1356/757. Two hundred meters east of the complex of Salar and Sangar on Sharia Saliba is the cruciform madrasa of Amir Sarghatmish. This mamluk renowned for his beauty was acquired by Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad and grew up in the corps of jamdars, or ‘keepers of the wardrobe.’ His prominence dates from the reigns of al-Nasir’s minor sons, when Sarghatmish took an active part in the battles waged on their behalf. In 1354, supporting the amir Shaykhu, he was one of the principal agents who rescued Sultan Hasan from prison, and after Shaykhu’s assassination he became the amir kabir, the ‘great lord’ or grand marshal. He was virtual ruler of Egypt for Hasan, who, chafing at this, had Sarghatmish thrown into prison and murdered in 1358. He is buried in the domed tomb–chamber that projects most visibly into the street.
The dome is double-shelled and bulges slightly from the row of stalactite decoration at its base. This type of dome probably originated in northwest Iran, an area with which Mamluk Egypt was in contact on many levels. When the Mongol Ilkhanid state collapsed in 1335, artisans attracted by the patronage of the Mamluk court migrated to Cairo. At the beginning of the fifteenth century this type of dome outline became characteristic of Central Asia, whose architecture was also influenced from northwest Iran.
The minaret and the portal are at the other end of the façade. The minaret is a good example of the form to which the minaret of Salar and Sangar was leading. At the bottom, the square shaft, or story, has been reduced to a base set on inclined or prismatic triangles; at the top is a colonnaded pavilion with a crowning ovoid finial. Enter the complex through the portal on the main façade. Typical of early fourteenth-century entries is the triangular hood above a mantel of stalactites and the delicately carved arabesque patterns in the spandrels of the arch.
Inside, the twisting corridor leads to a square central courtyard with a marble floor inlaid in a bold pattern of black and white. In the middle is a fountain kiosk, and around it are four vaulted halls, or iwans. Perhaps the best view of this plan is from the minaret of Ibn Tulun, which overlooks it. In the angles of the cross that this figure makes are the dependencies: halls, libraries, and cells for the professors, students, and servants. This madrasa is a good example of the kind founded in the mid-fourteenth century by Mamluk amirs in support of higher studies of the Qur’an, traditions of the Prophet, and jurisprudence. One senior and three junior professors were appointed, and sixty students devoted themselves exclusively to research in the Hanafi school of law. There was also an orphanage school, which was established as an annex. It accommodated forty children and was directed by a teacher and an assistant who taught them the Qur’an, calligraphy, and arithmetic. In the foundation inscription on the façade Sarghitinish is described as “mentor of scholars.”
The dome over the mihrab was restored in concrete in 1940, with unfortunate results. On the left side of the mihrab is a panel of white marble with a medallion in the center and four quarter-medallions in the corners. Hidden among the leaf and stem forms of the arabesque design are six birds and four hands. The minbar dates from 1706/1118.
The marble panels along the walls are all part of the extensive and much criticized restorations of 1999–2003. At the same time a row of shops on the southern wall of the mosque was excavated.
On leaving the building notice the bank of finely carved mashrabiya windows on the north corner of the façade belonging to an Ottoman period house.
Madrasa of Sultan Qaytbay ** (No. 223) 1475/880. The reward to trekking back through the maze of streets on Qal‘at al-Kabsh to find this mosque is seeing a royal endowment that still serves the needs, albeit changed, of its neighborhood five centuries later. Proceed up the southeast (tomb; side or Sarghatmish. Take the first turn to the right (opposite Ibn Tulun’s wall), which is Darb al-Taluny. Follow it until it comes to a T-juncture with Sharia Qal‘at al-Kabsh. Turn right. About ten meters farther, the street will fork (the right fork leads to the back entrance of the complex of Salar and Sangar from which Sangar had access to his nearby residence). Follow the left fork until it runs into Sharia al-Rahaba. Turn right and into an open area in which the mosque-madrasa stands. The main entrance is under the minaret on the south facade, but the ‘working’ entrance is on the north facade. To the left are the remains of the hod, or drinking trough, that Qaytbay attached to his madrasa. Although the hod is no longer in use, a public pump nearby serves the neighborhood, so the spirit of the deed is still evident. The façade is quite plain for a late fifteenth-century royal construction, but the portal is not. Note the deeply carved lines of the double-chevron ablaq hood and the cutout designs of the stalactites.
Inside the madrasa, note how deeply and richly carved the wall surfaces are, especially in the white rows of the alternating ablaq bands of the four centered arches of the iwans and in the spandrels of the main arches. The original blue-painted background is still quite obvious. The mihrab hood of carved stone rather than marble insets belongs to the mid-fifteenth-century stylistic changes. The bold black-and-white marble patterns on the floor are attractive, but the carpets must be lifted to see them. The northwest iwan is curtained off for women’s use. It contains a dikka (or small platform from which the Qur’an was read) in the form of a small loggia, which became the style in the fifteenth century.
The mosque was damaged during the 1992 earthquake and was restored in 2006. The custodians are especially pleased with the new ablutions area and mortuary additions.
Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun *** (No. 220) 876–79/263–65. Continue along Sharia Saliba from the Madrasa of Sarghatmish and take the first right. If one has time to see only one Islamic monument in Cairo, it should be this one. Its simplicity and grandeur of scale make it the most moving of the great mosques.
Ahmad ibn Tulun was the son of a Turkish slave of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma’mun. He was sent to Egypt in 868 as governor of al-Fustat, but within two years he had been made governor of the whole country. Shortly thereafter, by refusing to send the annual tribute to the Abbasid court, he established himself as an independent ruler of the province. His family ruled in Egypt for 135 years, until 905. Ibn Tulun founded a new royal city around the hill of Yashkur to the northeast of al-Fustat, near the Muqattam range, razing the Christian and Jewish cemetery that was located on the hill to do so. This was a site to which many legends were attached: it was believed that Noah’s ark had landed here after the flood, and that here God had spoken to Moses and Moses had confronted Pharaoh’s magicians; nearby, on Qal‘at al-Kabsh, Abraham had been ready to sacrifice his son to God. The city that Ahmad ibn Tulun built was called al-Qata’i‘, ‘the wards,’ descriptive of the allotments in which each group of his followers settled. In 905, when the Abbasids reestablished control, the city was destroyed and plowed under. Of its magnificence and scale all that survives is the mosque that formed its center.
The mosque was built between 876 and 879 and is important for several reasons. It is the oldest mosque in Cairo that remains essentially as it was built. It also survives as a rare example of the art and architecture of the classical period of Islam, the ninth and tenth centuries, for it was built at a time when the influence of the Abbasid court in Iraq was dominant in the Islamic world. Its inspiration is thus almost exclusively Mesopotamian. Finally, this mosque provides one of the best examples of the classic congregational courtyard plan.
A bare limestone escarpment leads from the street to the outer wall. Between this wall and the inner wall is the ziyada, or ‘addition,’ which separated, rather like a dry moat, the mosque from the bazaars and secular buildings that pressed upon it from all sides.
Early mosques had many entrances, located in each façade except the qibla side, which usually had only a private connection with the ruler’s residence. Only one entrance is open today. The crenellation above the walls is unique. It bears a resemblance to paper cutouts of human figures with linked arms. Perhaps this show of solidarity was not intentional, but it provides a distinctive outline against the sky.
Inside the mosque one is immediately struck by its vastness: it covers six and a half acres. This was the main congregational mosque of al-Qata’i‘, the mosque in which the whole congregation joined together for the Friday noon prayer. The original courtyard could have been used, if needed, as a spillover space for prayer. The arcades around the courtyard, which are deeper on the qibla side, are formed by arches on brick piers and are roofed with palm logs boxed in by wooden panels. Rosettes and windows form a continuous and simple decoration. The arches are pointed—two hundred years before similar arches made their appearance in Europe—and spring from oblong supports rounded at the corners by pilasters, or engaged columns.
The qibla wall of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun
The arches are outlined with an edge of carved stucco. It appears that all of the arcades originally had soffits of carved stucco similar to those that have been restored in the southern arcade. The use of red brick covered with stucco decoration is a feature imported from Samarra, the court city of the Abbasids, one hundred kilometers north of Baghdad. This royal city existed from 836 to 886. Because Samarra extended over a vast area and was built quickly, an efficient and rapid way had to be developed to decorate vast surfaces of brick. Wet plaster was stamped with carved and patterned wooden molds. It is this so-called Samarran decoration that one finds around and under the arches, on the capitals of the pilasters, and on the wooden panels over the entrances in the Mosque of Ibn Tulun.
The sanctuary hall is five aisles deep. In the middle of the qibla wall is the main mihrab, a simple frame around a niche. Above the niche is an inscription in plain Kufic script of the shahada, the commitment that all Muslims make: ‘There is no god but God; Muhammad is the messenger of God.’ This is followed by ‘God bless him and give him peace.’ To the right of the mihrab is the door through which Ahmad ibn Tulun would have entered the mosque from his palace, which adjoined the mosque on that side. To the left of the main mihrab is a flat-paneled mihrab that was probably put there by the amir ‘Alam al-Din Sangar, who was in charge of the mosque’s restoration for Sultan Lagin (see below).
Over the years the mosque has been endowed with other mihrabs, which can be seen on the piers of the sanctuary. Two of them are on the piers that flank the dikka, and probably date from the ninth century. The one on the right with a carved star hanging from a chain is most unusual. Two other mihrabs are on the first arcade in from the courtyard; on the right is the one with which al-Afdal Shahanshah, the son of Badr al-Gamali, the great Fatimid wazir, placed a Shiite mark on the mosque in 1094/487; the one on the left pier is a copy of al-Afdal Shahanshah’s mihrab by Sultan Lagin. These are the only mihrabs in Cairo that name their donors. On the pier just behind al-Afdal’s mihrab is a panel of plain Kufic calligraphy. This is the dedicatory inscription by Ahmad ibn Tulun. It begins with the Throne Verse (2:255).
The long band of inscription on sycomore wood that runs just below the ceiling and around the whole mosque contains verses from the Qur’an. The frieze is two kilometers long and comprises one-fifteenth of the whole book. Legend has it that some of the boards used for this inscription were left over from Noah’s Ark. One hundred and twenty-eight windows light the interior. They are pointed at the top and contain plaster grilles in various geometric combinations. Three are original: the fifth, sixth, and sixteenth from the left on the qibla wall. Six date from the 1296 restoration: the second from the left on the southeast wall, the second and eleventh on the southwest wall, the ninth and twenty-fifth on the northwest wall, and the twenty-eighth on the northeast wall.
The Mosque of Ibn Tulun also shows that an interest in the restoration of important monuments in Cairo is not a modern phenomenon, but goes back many centuries. The first such restoration was carried out by the sultan Lagin in 1296. While he was still an amir, Husam al-Din Lagin was an accomplice to the murder of Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil ibn Qalawun (see Chapter 8), and during the period of unrest that followed, he successfully hid in Ibn Tulun’s mosque, deserted and much damaged by its use as a caravansaray for pilgrims from North Africa en route to the holy cities of the Hijaz in the twelfth century. He vowed that if he escaped he would restore the mosque, and when he became sultan during al-Nasir Muhammad’s first interregnum, he embellished several important areas. These include the marble lining and glass mosaic inscription in cursive script on the main mihrab, the dome over it, and the minbar, which is a splendid example of the wood carving and designs of the early Mamluk period. The domed building over the fountain in the middle of the courtyard also belongs to Lagin’s restoration. The Qur’anic verse inscribed here (5:6) describes the ablutions required before prayer. The original minaret, a spiral with a staircase on the outside, was probably inspired by that of the great mosque of Samarra, which in turn was inspired by the ziggurats of ancient Babylon. At some point the minaret must have been damaged, because the square base with the horseshoe arches was a restoration by the pilgrims from North Africa, while the mabkhara finial that crowns it was added by Lagin. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the mosque was used first as a wool factory, then as a hospice for the disabled. It was one of the first mosques to be restored by the Comité in 1890, and it was restored again in 1929 and once more during 2000–2005 by the HCRP, details of which are depicted in panels to the right of the entrance. This restoration, by using concrete to pave the courtyard, exacerbated the problem of water seepage, apparent in the piers.
To access the minaret, exit the mosque and walk around the north side. From the top of the minaret there is a splendid view in all directions—of the mosque, the Madrasa of Amir Sarghatmish next door, Sharia Saliba, the Citadel, and Cairo extending west toward the Nile and the pyramids.
Bayt al-Kritliya, or the Gayer-Anderson Museum *** A right turn as one leaves the main entrance of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun leads to Bayt al-Kritliya, so named because from 1834 on it was the home of the al-Kiridli family, originally from Crete. This is actually two medieval houses joined together, restored, and furnished by Major Gayer-Anderson, an Englishman who lived in them from 1935 to 1942. The buildings are now maintained as a museum by the Islamic section of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. These houses are well preserved and furnished, and give a good idea of the degree of comfort and luxury that could be attained by wealthy Cairenes three hundred years ago or earlier.
The narrow alley between the houses and the overhanging windows above it hints at the beauty of medieval street patterns. In fact, this is all that is left of the bustling Ottoman quarter that existed around the mosque in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The house on the east (No. 321, built in 1631/1041) with an Ottoman portal has two grilled windows on its southwest corner, which mark a sabil, or free water dispensary, a rare feature in a private residence. This house belonged to ‘Abd al-Qadar al-Haddad (‘the blacksmith’). When the two houses were joined, this house became the haramlik, and the one on the west (No. 559, built in 1540/947), with a Mamluk portal and two benches, the house of Amna bint Salim al-Gazzar (‘Amna, the daughter of Salim the butcher’), became the salamlik.
The tour begins in the house on the east, the seventeenth-century haramlik. In the courtyard, enter the sabil, a mini-museum in itself. It contains a good explanation of a working fountain, as well as a nice salsabil, the inclined slab of marble over which the water ran. From the courtyard proceed to the maq‘ad (the loggia/open summer sitting room) indoors into the winter reception room (look up at the ceiling), through the harim qa‘a and various small rooms, and up to the roof terrace, where in different sections the men and women could take the air. The mashrabiya screens that enclose this area are remarkable for the variety of motifs and designs of the panels, panels which filtered the light and cast attractive patterns on the floor. A collection of Ottoman marble sinks and carved backs are also on display. From the terrace one crosses over, to descend and exit through the house on the west, the sixteenth-century salamlik. In this house the highlight is the large qa‘a on the ground floor, which is perhaps the most magnificent sixteenth-century (albeit restored) example of such a room in Cairo. With its marvelous polychrome central fountain, richly decorated ceiling beams, kilim-covered pillows, and alcoves, as well as the bank of mashrabiya windows in the upper gallery from which the ladies looked down on the entertainments below, it is a grand place in which to visualize life in pre-modern Cairo. Gayer-Anderson was a great collector and the names of the rooms (Persian, Byzantine, Chinese, Pharaonic, and so on) give a sampling of his acquisitive interests. Each room has good identifying descriptions as well as interesting pieces of furniture and artifacts. One complete room was added by Gayer-Anderson: the Damascus room, which is from a seventeenth-century Syrian house; its walls and ceiling are covered in intricate low-relief patterns of lacquer and gold.
These historic houses, with their lovely architecture, occupy a special place among the artistic and aesthetic monuments of Cairo. In addition to the local legends that surround the site itself, adjoining as it does the Mosque of ibn Tulun, the hill or Yashkur, and Qal‘at al-Kabsh, there are legends specific to the house of ‘Abd al-Qadar al-Haddad. The domed tomb on the street side is said to be that of Sidi Harun, son of Husayn, a great-grandson of the Prophet and patron saint of the house who has reputedly brought to it blessings, protection, and prosperity. The house was built around a well, still visible under an arch in the far right-hand side of the courtyard, that was allegedly supplied by waters left from the Great Flood and was believed to possess magical and beneficial properties. This well was also the entrance to the vast subterranean palace of Sultan al-Watawit, the Sultan of the Bats and King of the Jinn, who lived amid vast treasures guarded by his magic. It is here also that his seven daughters, each in a golden bed, lie asleep under a spell. These legends are illustrated in the sabil room off the main courtyard.
There are public facilities in the garden in the back of both houses.
Mosque of Azbak al-Yusufi ** (No. 211) 1494–95/900. Return to Sharia Saliba from the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, cross the street and continue toward the tall late-Mamluk minaret before you. This is the complex of the amir Azbak al-Yusufi, whose career began in 1471. As one of the great ‘amirs of the sword,’ he occupied several high posts and at the time of his death in 1498, aged almost eighty, was counselor of state for the son of Sultan Qaytbay. (He is not to be confused with Azbak min Tutukh, who founded Azbakiya.)
His mosque is a fine example of the late Mamluk style. It is situated on a corner and thus has two façades. The main, or northern, façade contains the entrance with the minaret above it dominating the site and view. At this façade’s western end is a drinking trough and the remains of other buildings, probably including a maq‘ad; at the eastern end is the sabil-kuttab with interlacing, alternating black and white scrolls over the main window. The amir’s blazon appears above the portal. It is of the kind known as ‘composite’: in the upper field, a napkin between a pair of horns pointing outward; in the middle field, a cup between another pair of horns; and in the lowest field, a cup between two napkins. The dispositions of the various devices are difficult to understand, but it is thought that at this period they were not so much representative of the duties of the amir as they were a common badge used by a group of amirs of the same sultan, since there are many blazons with similar arrangements.
Inside, the plan follows that of a mosque-madrasa, except for the use of the southern iwan as a tomb area. Behind the very lovely mashrabiya screen are buried Azbak, his wife the princess Bunukh, and her son Farag by a previous marriage. In the northwest iwan is an inset loggia, or dikka. A central star radiates outward in the lantern ceiling. The mihrab is plain, but the minbar is attractively inlaid. The interior is richly decorated with marble floors (although overlaid with new carpeting), gilded ceilings, and wooden frames around the doors. Each course of the horseshoe arch of the main iwans alternates between buff and red, and is carved, as are the spandrels around the arch, with dense, intricate arabesque patterns. As well as being an important architectural monument, this mosque is also used by the residents of the neighborhood as a place for prayer and Qur’anic study groups. It is cared for by its custodians; but it is time to make repairs.
Mosque-Mausoleum of Hasan Pasha Tahir * (No. 210) 1809/1224. To reach this early nineteenth-century structure, turn left after leaving the Mosque of Azbak and turn right at the first corner, marked by the remains of the Sabil-Kuttab of Ahmad Effendi Salim (No. 461) 1699/1 111. Turn left again and continue straight north until you reach the façade of the mosque on your right. The mosque, situated on the banks of Birkat al-Fil, a landmark of medieval Cairo that was drained in 1840, was built by Hasan Pasha Tahir, a military functionary in the days of Muhammad ‘Ali, when Ottoman influences were novel and strong. Here, however, except for the fact that the tomb and the mosque are separated, Cairene influences prevail. The facade, ornately carved, contains the entrance, the minaret, and the sabil-kuttab. To the left stands the mausoleum, which contains three sarcophagi and funerary wall plaques. A short path leads to the mosque entrance. The interior is simple: a rectangle, with a marble-paved floor (now carpeted) and a painted ceiling, divided into two arcades by six marble columns. There is a skylight in the center. The walls are plain, and the decoration is confined to the pierced stucco windows filled with colored glass. In 2002 the mosque was restored and cleaned.
The sabil consists of two rooms: the outer one where the water was dispensed is covered by a ceiling handsomely painted with fruits and flowers in swirls and scrolls. In the inner room the water was raised from the cistern below. The conduit system is visible under glass.
Near this group stands the Mausoleum of Ahmad Pasha Tahir (No. 565) 1817/1233. A brother of Hasan and a nephew of Muhammad ‘Ali, the builder was the supervisor of customs at Bulaq. This tomb, a room of four iwans surmounted by a dome, was originally built behind the Mosque of Sayyida Zaynab, but was moved in 1951 to this new site.
Remains of the Palace of Qansuh al-Ghuri (No. 322) 1501–16/906–22. Return to Sharia Saliba and continue east. A short distance up the street, on the corner of the first alley to the right, these remains are visible: the outline of a portal, console supports for an upper loggia, and roundel inscriptions, all from the late Mamluk period.
Mosque of Taghri Bardi ** (No. 209) 1440/844. Taghri Bardi was a prominent amir in the reign of Sultan Barsbay. He led the army that invaded the Crusader kingdom of Cyprus. A man of somber character and violent language, he was murdered by his own mamluks shortly after he was appointed grand dawadar, or executive secretary, to Sultan al-Zahir Gaqmaq. His madrasa, mosque, and Sufi convent on the left side of Sharia Saliba are good examples of how urban monuments in the late Mamluk period tended to be smaller and more compact than complexes of the Bahri period because of the lack of large building sites.
The mosque has two façades. The main one, on Sharia Saliba, has a pleasing balance and unity. The entrance portal in the middle of the façade is elaborately decorated with ablaq and reversed trilobed forms in black-and-white marble with accents of colored stone, all characteristic of the late Mamluk period. To the left are the sabil-kuttab and the minaret, and to the right, the tomb façade and the dome, which has interlocking ribs. The cutout pattern of the kuttab eaves echoes the stalactite pattern of the tomb cornice; the pattern on the lintel over the door matches that on the windows in the tomb facade.
The second, or eastern, façade is on the side street. The round bull’s-eye window in the center panel is over the mihrab. From the street, all seems extremely regular. Climb the minaret, however, and look down on the complex to see how ingeniously the various parts have been tucked behind the façades and the various demands of the building have been met. These include a qibla orientation for the mosque, a position on the qibla wall and the main street for the mausoleum, symmetrically disposed windows and doors for the attached foundations, and as far as possible a symmetrical internal arrangement. The entrance corridor leads around the tomb and into the mosque-madrasa interior. One notices that the window to the right of the mihrab is much deeper than that on the left; that the way to the ablutions court is out through the northeast iwan; and in the southwest iwan, which is roped off for women, there is a peculiarly shaped niche or storage area. The small cubes of space in corners that result from these adjustments and compromises are often used either as light and air shafts or are filled in as solid masses with masonry.
Over the years the complex has been given new, eccentric touches (the neon light around the mihrab hood is one example); and it is time perhaps for a furbishing.
The street along the eastern wall of the Mosque of Taghri Bardi leads to the Sabil-Kuttab of ‘Abbas Agha (No. 335) 1677/1088, at the corner. He was a commander of the ‘Azaban foot soldier militia. Next, is the beautiful portal and only remnant of the Wikala-Waqf of al-Tutungi (No. 548), from the seventeenth/eleventh century. A short block down the little alley, directly in front of these two façades, is the Mosque of Mughulbay Taz (No. 207) 1466/872. The façade of this small mosque is a long horizontal panel with three pairs of windows under a stalactite cornice. The minaret has lost its finial, but the densely carved ornament of its remaining levels is superb. These monuments are survivors of the building boom that took place in this area in both the Mamluk and Ottoman periods, as political power emanated from the Citadel.
Sabil of Umm Abbas 1867/1284. At the next intersection, on the left, is the fountain built by the mother of ‘Abbas Hilmi I (see Chapter 7).
Mosque-Khanqah of Amir Shaykhu ** (Nos. 147 and 152) 1349/750 and 1355/756. These two buildings face each other across Sharia Saliba with almost identical exterior aspects: two long and tall façades, and identical minarets mounted on similar portals. Yet they were not conceived and built at the same time, and the interiors serve completely different purposes. First Shaykhu built the mosque-madrasa on the north side of the street, in which twenty Sufis were housed. Five years later, on the south side of the street, he built the larger khanqah, which included his mausoleum. From either east or west directions, the façades present a striking view. Both buildings were under restoration from 2001 to 2007.
The amir Sayf al-Din Shaykhu al-‘Umari had a brilliant career. Purchased by Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad, Shaykhu rose through the ranks to become one of the leading amirs in the reign of al-Nasir’s son Hasan. In 1351 Hasan was deposed by Amir Taz, but Shaykhu helped restore Hasan to power in 13 54, at the same time becoming amir kabir and commander-in-chief of the armies, the first court official to merge these titles. His personal character alternated between cruel and mystical. In 1357, when he was more than fifty years old, discontented royal mamluks assassinated him.
To endow his mosque-madrasa, one of Cairo’s largest pious foundations, he purchased property from the merchants and proprietors in the area. He established professorships in the four legal schools, in traditions of the Prophet, and in Qur’anic readings. The Sufis were provided a stipend of bread, meat, oil, soap, and sweets. The institution retained great wealth until the famine of 1403–1404/806, when Farag ibn Barquq confiscated some of its holdings, inaugurating a period of decline.
Notice the handsomely carved arabesque spandrels to either side of the portal arch. The entrance to the mosque leads into a vestibule. Embedded in three of the walls are pieces of polished black glass. Their purpose may have been decorative, or protective against evil spirits, or curative, or imitative of the Ka‘ba’s black stone. To the right is a locked tomb, perhaps built by the founder for his own use, but abandoned by him when the tomb in the khanqah was built. An unknown shaykh lies inside.
The interior plan of the building follows that of a congregational mosque. Immediately to the left as one enters the courtyard, a small mashrabiya enclosure extends from the wall. This screen was used to contain water jars and probably dates from the mid-eighteenth century. The polychrome marble paving of the courtyard is the first instance of this kind of flooring. An interesting feature of the sanctuary is the way the qibla wall is bent in a diagonal away from the street. Another is the stone minbar of the Qaytbay period, probably a gift to the mosque. Its carved geometric decoration has eroded, but its nature is suggested by the remains of the tight geometric patterns of the railing along the balustrade. The carved stone dikka is handsome. An inscription dates it to 1555/963, and it is signed by the mason who may also have chiseled the minbar. The mihrab, with radiating courses of red, white, and blue stone and marble paneling, was the type favored in the mid-fourteenth century; however, the glazed tiles in the lowest part of the niche seem to have been imported from North Africa, and were perhaps embedded at a later date.
The khanqah, on the opposite side of the street, is a much larger building and was built when Shaykhu was at his most powerful. One enters beneath a pharaonic cornice (a spolia of the Saite king Amasis, brought to Cairo from Memphis as reported in a contemporary account) deliberately placed (in contrast to the somewhat haphazard use of such materials in many other Islamic buildings). One walks along the twisting entrance corridor to the courtyard. The khanqah originally accommodated seven hundred Sufi dervishes, or mystics, who lived in the warren of passageways and cells surrounding the courtyard on the south and west sides. These upper corridors are easy to reach and very interesting to walk along.
The sanctuary iwan is a large and spacious hall divided by the columns of two arcades attached by tie-beams. There are two domes in the ceiling, one over the middle of the second aisle and the other over the mihrab. The eighteenth-century decoration of the ceiling is very handsome, and the blue-and-white patterns impart a peaceful and restful quality to the place. The inscription under the beamed ceiling is Qur’anic and alludes to the giving of alms to the poor. It is from the chapter called “Man”:
Surely the righteous shall drink of a cup flavored with camphor, of a spring from which drink the servants of God, who makes it gush abundantly. They fulfill their vow, and fear the Day whose evil is widespread; they feed the needy for love of Him, the orphan and the captive: ‘We feed you simply for the love of God, desiring neither reward nor gratitude.’ (76:5–9)
The mihrab is unusual for this period: the hood design is made up of radiating red and white courses of stone extending into a carved spandrel. The rounded mashrabiya front of the minbar dates from the late seventeenth century.
The tomb–chamber is in the northeast corner of the sanctuary, in an area screened off with a mashrabiya railing and projecting into the street. The two cenotaphs that were there in 1983 have now disappeared. The smaller one belonged to Shaykhu, the other to the Hanafi shaykh Akmal al-Din Muhammad, who was appointed by Shaykhu as the first superior of the khanqah and who died in 1378/780. The plaque on the street wall states that the tomb–chamber was restored in 1684/1095 by Bilal Agha. It is from this restoration that the wall-paintings of the mosques of Medina and Mecca date. The mashrabiya windows between the sanctuary and the courtyard, as well as the dikka nearby, are also most likely from this date. The two domes in the sanctuary may also be from this time.
On the south side of the prayer hall, a door in the wall leads into a large room with two arched openings across a roofed courtyard. There is no mihrab in the hall. This may have been an assembly hall in which the Sufis gathered for the daily hudur service at which the dhikr was performed. The mashrabiya maqsura presumably dates from the seventeenth century.
Outside, on Sharia Saliba, a projecting mashrabiya window at the end of the complex is all that remains of the Hod of Shaykhu (No. 323) seventeenth/eleventh century, assumed to be part of Bilal Agha’s restoration.
On the opposite corner are the remains of the House and Sabil of Amir Abd ‘Allah (No. 452) 1719/1132. In 2007 it was being restored.
Mosque of Qanibay al-Muhammadi (No. 151) 1413/816. Sixty meters up the street from the complex of Shaykhu, on the right, is this small and compact mosque. The domed tomb–chamber projects into the street. The minaret stands next to it over the entrance. The dissimilar shapes—rounded and vertical—are unified by the chevron patterns of the dome and of the minaret’s second story. Inside, the plan is that of a large oblong room bisected twice by horseshoe arches. The space is plainly decorated. At the sanctuary end, the beamed ceiling and its support of niches have been recently repainted (2001–2003) and the ornate decoration is visible once more. There is a malqaf (wind scoop) over one end of the sanctuary sahn, or central court. In the tomb, to either side of the mihrab, are two white marble panels carved with a central medallion and quarter-medal-lions in the corners. This monument has no historic inscription, but literary evidence suggests it was built by Qanibay al-Saghir, a high-ranking official in the reigns of Sultans Barquq and Farag, who rose to be viceroy of Damascus. He rebelled against Sultan al-Mu’ayyad Shaykh and was executed in 1415.
Sabil-Kuttab of Sultan Qaytbay *** (No. 324) 1479/884. This building lies on a small wedge of land another sixty meters up the street on the right. It is the first example in Cairo of a freestanding sabil-kuttab. The building offers a good example of the trend in the later Mamluk period to apply a variety of rich decoration, or focal points, to the exterior of buildings. This is particularly evident in the handsome entrance portal, with its defined ablaq courses of red, white, and black, and on the west and north façades in the areas between the windows of the sabil and the base of the kuttab. The marble veneer and carving of the roundels, lintels, joggles, and corner columns of these areas are exceptionally fine.
In Ottoman times these freestanding water-dispensaries and Qur’an-teaching units became favorite structures because they provided economically and efficiently the ‘two mercies’ most commended by the Prophet: water to the thirsty and instruction to the ignorant. On the north façade notice the small cup inscribed with ‘Allah’ in the center of the black vous-soir between the windows. The craftsman Zayn al-‘Abidin al-Zardakash (the armorer) has signed his name on the bars of the main window of the west façade.
Enter the building through the main portal. The main room of the sabil is on the ground floor. Here is located the salsabil, a panel of carved marble over which the water, pumped up from the cistern, would cascade and splash into basins for distribution. The prime purpose was the practical one of aerating the water, but it also provided aesthetic pleasure. In looking at the panel, notice the holes through which the water was forced, and the radiating chevron in the hood, similar to hood designs in mosque portals and over mihrab niches. Notice also the delicate carving over the windows, in geometric and arabesque patterns. It is possible to descend by stairs (off the sabil chamber) to a platform above the twin cisterns that stored the water for the sabil. Once a year, at the time of the Nile flood, these cisterns were filled with water brought on leather bag-laden camels
In 1999 the building was restored as part of a joint venture by the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional. Since April 2001, the second and third floors have been the Suzanne Mubarak Center for Islamic Civilization. With the view of neighboring minarets and domes, this is a splendid location in which to peruse the developing collection of books and visual resources. There are also public facilities.
