Photo : Tarekheikal — CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Cairo · Al-Muizz, Gamaliya
Sultan Barquq Mosque
A madrasa and Sufi khanqah of 1386, third façade of the Bayn al-Qasrayn row.
Barquq, the first Circassian sultan of the Mamluks, had this group built between 1384 and 1386 beside the Qalawun complex and the madrasa of al-Nasir Muhammad, the three façades following one another along the same pavement. It was a madrasa and a khanqah at once, that is a residence for Sufis, which is uncommon in the middle of a city. The four-iwan courtyard is open to the sky; at its far end the qibla iwan is roofed with a painted wooden ceiling carried on ancient columns reused from older buildings; next to it, the dome holds the tomb of the sultan's daughter — Barquq himself lies in the funerary complex his son Faraj had raised for him out in the Northern Cemetery. In the evening the minaret and the dome are lit and the street stays full.
The extra bit
The marble portal is set back, so find the door, go in, and walk to the far end of the courtyard, into the qibla iwan, where the painted ceiling can be read from underneath. Twenty minutes is enough, and the kindest hour is the one when the lighting comes on.
Know before you go
Prayer is still held here: dress as for any working mosque, and do not come in during prayers. Entry is by ticket, as at the other al-Muizz monuments. The Sufi cells upstairs are not always open, and restoration work can close part of the complex without notice.
