Umm Al Sultan Shaban School, Bab Al Wazeer Street, Al Darb Al Ahmar
Originator: Sultan Al-Ashraf Nasser Al-Din Shaban bin Hussein bin Al-Nasser Muhammad bin Qalawun
Location: The school is located on Bab Al Wazir Street
Creation date: 770 AH / 1368 CE
About the originator: -
The History of Al-Jabarti tells: Al-Ashraf Shaaban was born in 754 AH in Qala Al-Jabal, and he is the twenty-second Sultan of the Turkic kings in the Egyptian lands. He sat on the throne of Egypt after his cousin, King Al-Mansour Muhammad bin Al-Malik Al-Muzaffar, Haji bin Al-Nasser Muhammad, was deposed, and he was ten years old. The internal conditions and the severe deterioration in all aspects; As a result of the young age of the sultans from the children of Al-Nasir Muhammad bin Qalawun, as well as the disputes between the princes of the despotism of power.
After the affairs of Sultan Shaaban settled, he began building the mosque and the school named after his mother Khawand Baraka, which was of good beauty, mind and good opinion, and which was established next to the school of Sultan Shaaban Quarter known as Rab'a Umm Sultan near the Al Aqmar Mosque
School History: -
Abd al-Rahman Zaki narrates, in the Encyclopedia of Cairo City in a Thousand Years: “It was set up as a school for the Shafi’is and the Hanafis. Its public door is richly decorated with historical inscriptions on both sides. The school has four ewans perpendicularly in the middle of which is an open courtyard, and the eastern iwan has two domes, one of which was designated for the burial of Sultan Shaaban and his son, King Mansur Haji, was also buried in it, and the sea dome was prepared for the burial of Khawand Baraka, the mother of Sultan Shaaban, with her daughter buried. On both sides of the general section, which is full of decorations, wrote what was stated: “In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, who had enabled them on earth to establish prayer - the verse - He commanded the establishment of this blessed school for his mother, our Mawlana, the Sultan, King Al-Ashraf Shaaban bin the late Hussein, Sultan of Islam and Muslims, the killer of the infidels and the polytheists, who protect justice in the worlds The appearance of the right with the proofs, protector of the Hawza al-Din Ezz his victory.
Architectural Description:
External Description:
The main facade:
The building overlooks the street, and it is divided into recessed, rectangular walls at the height of the building, which terminate at the top with rows of muqarnas. The façade is crowned by a façade in the form of triple-petal foliage.
School entrance:
To the right of the façade, it is set in a recessed wall crowned by an arch and decorated with nine tiers of muqarnas. This entrance, with its gilded muqarnas, leafy decorations and kufic inscriptions, is considered one of the most beautiful and rare entrances in design. It is influenced by the style of Turkish buildings with Seljuk influences, which are distinguished by the decoration of the entrances, the density of muqarnas and the elongation of the arches, such as the main entrance of the Yesil Group in Bursa, Turkey.
On the left of the door there is a fountain on the face of which a veil of wood assembled with geometric shapes has been erected. To the right of the inside of the corridor, a blue marble slab divided in green, inscribed: “Praise be to God. He established this blessed school by Mawlana Al-Sultan Al-Malik, his dearest supporter to his mother, may God accept them.”
Al-Maqrizi says: “This school is outside Bab Zuweila near the al-Jabal castle, its line is known as al-Tabbaneh, and its location was in the old days a cemetery for the people of Cairo. A water basin for the Sabil, which is one of the venerable schools, and in it her son, the noble King, was buried after he was killed.
Internal description: -
The madrasa is made up of four perpendicular stone iwans surrounding an open courtyard. The largest of the iwans is the southeastern qibla iwan, which preserved the marble cladding of the mihrab, and some of the sides of the octagonal mihrab pillars were decorated with carved leaf decorations. On each side of the qibla iwan is a square-shaped mausoleum room built of stone.
The small mausoleum (the shrine of men) is located to the right of the iwan, and was designated for the burial of Sultan Shaban and his son, al-Malik al-Mansur Haji. The large mausoleum (the shrine of women) is located to the left of the qibla iwan, and was designated for the burial of the mother of Sultan Shaban, Khawand Baraka (she died in AH 774 / AD 1373), and her daughter Khawand Zahra. In the eastern iwan there are two domes, the tribe of which was designated for the burial of Sultan Shaaban and his son, King Mansour Hajji, was also buried in it, and the sea dome was prepared for the burial of Khawand Baraka, the mother of Sultan Shaaban, with her daughter buried with her.
Each mausoleum is covered by a dome whose transition zones have been fitted on the inside with corner curves. This element is considered uncommon in domes of the Mamluk period, as it was limited to some domes of Mamluk buildings dating back to the second half of the 8th century AH / 14th CE. The use of corner niches in the transition areas in domes is one of the characteristics of the Fatimid dome since its inception. The two domes are lobed on the outside and resemble the dome of the al-Rukniyya school in Damascus, which belongs to the Ayyubid period.
However, the two domes in the Umm al-Sultan Shaban school are more developed than the al-Rukaniya school dome. The rest of the school indicates that it was rich in its decorations, as the ceilings were colored gilded and the floors were furnished with marble, and gilding was used in stone and marble decorations. There is a chair that was transferred from the mosque to the Arab Antiquities House made of wood, with six ribs adorned with delicate decorations of the tooth. And ebony, as well as enameled glass complains .
0 Comments