15.4: Mamluk

Arts of the Islamic world: The Mamluks

by Glenna Barlow (excerpted)

The name ‘Mamluk’, like many names, was given by later historians. The word itself means ‘owned’ in Arabic. It refers to the Turkic slaves who served as soldiers for the Ayyubid sultanate before revolting and rising to power. The Mamluks ruled over key lands in the Middle East, including Mecca and Medina. Their capital at Cairo became the artistic and economic center of the Islamic world at this time.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Mosque Lamp, 13th-14th century. Colorless glass; blue, green, red, yellow, and white enamels; and gold; free blown, applied, enameled, and gilded; tooled on the pontil, includes base, now detached: 12 x 8 in. (30.5 x 20.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of William H. Herriman, 21.484. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CC BY)

The period saw a great production of art and architecture, particularly those commissioned by the reigning sultans. Patronizing the arts and creating monumental structures was a way for leaders to display their wealth and make their power visible within the landscape of the city. The Mamluks constructed countless mosques, madrasas and mausolea that were lavishly furnished and decorated. Mamluk decorative objects, particularly glasswork as in Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\), became renowned throughout the Mediterranean. The empire benefitted from the trade of these goods economically and culturally, as Mamluk craftsmen began to incorporate elements gleaned from contact with other groups. The growing prevalence of trade with China and exposure to Chinese goods, for instance, led to the Mamluk production of blue and white ceramics, an imitation of porcelain typical of the Far East.

The Mamluk sultanate was generally prosperous, in part supported by pilgrims to Mecca and Medina as well as a flourishing textile market, but in 1517 the Mamluk sultanate was overtaken and absorbed into the growing Ottoman empire.

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Madrasa and Friday Mosque of Sultan Hasan, Cairo

by Dr. Christian A. Hedrick

Figure \(\PageIndex{5}\): Madrasa and Friday Mosque of Sultan Hasan, Cairo, Egypt, 1356–1363/758–764 AH. It covers an area of approximately 8,000 square meters, and measures approximately 65 x 150 m and 65m high (on the north side). The mosque of Al-Rifa’i, built 1869–1912, is to the right (Photo: Mariam Mohamed Kamal via Smarthistory, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Described by a 15th-century observer as a building with “no equivalent in the whole world,”[1] the mosque-madrasa-funerary complex of the Mamluk Sultan Hasan in Cairo has been considered one of the greatest mosque complexes ever built since its construction in the 14th century. It includes a mosque, a madrasa (school), a mausoleum, and other buildings—all within the same space. A complex like this one was typically designed as one structure and sponsored by one patron. If the building has a tomb within, as this one does, it will also be referred to as a “funerary complex.” It stands today as one of the most imposing mosque complexes in Cairo. The complex is a quintessential Mamluk building type, especially in Cairo. It was the first building to combine a madrasa and congregational mosque together in the Islamic world, and it set a new standard in Mamluk Cairo.

The complex was built during a period of crisis between 1350 and 1380, when plagues, Nile floods, and famine all undermined political stability. This complex of buildings was a means for Sultan Hasan—a young and weak ruler—to express his power and piety. Although the complex was never completed and Sultan Hasan was not buried here, it is a famous examples of the many funerary complexes that the Mamluk sultans erected.

The decoration and design

Figure \(\PageIndex{14}\): Taq-i Kisra, Ctesiphon, Iraq, 3rd–6th century. (Photo: Hassan Majed via Smarthistory, CC BY-SA 4.0)

According to contemporary chroniclers, Sultan Hasan ordered the main iwan with the qibla (a wall indicating the direction of Mecca) to be “five cubits wider” than the greatest known arch in the world at the time: the famous Sasanian Taq-i Kisra in Ctesiphon from centuries earlier. (see Figure \(\PageIndex{14}\)) While the arch was not, in fact, bigger, this detail reveals something about Sultan Hasan’s global ambitions.

Figure \(\PageIndex{15}\): Qibla wall in an iwan, labeled with dado, mihrab, band with Kufic inscription, and minbar, madrasa and Friday Mosque of Sultan Hasan, Cairo, Egypt, 1356–1363/758–764 AH. (Photo: Berthold Werner via Smarthistory, CC BY 3.0)

The main iwan is by far the most elaborately decorated due to its association with Mecca (see Figures \(\PageIndex{13}\) and \(\PageIndex{15}\)). The qibla wall within it is articulated with a rich marble paneled dado, and a large and unique stucco text band in Kufic letters above that wraps around the entire iwan.

The mihrab niche (also indicating the direction of Mecca) is given special treatment with a pointed arch, stone ablaq (alternating color stone), and is flanked by Gothic style colonettes, which were included due to exchanges with the Crusader kingdoms in and around Jerusalem. On either side are doors (one original bronze remains) that lead into the mausoleum directly behind the qibla wall. There is also a marble minbar (pulpit with steps) from which the sermon would be preached.

Famed minarets

Figure \(\PageIndex{18}\): Minaret of the madrasa and Friday Mosque of Sultan Hasan, Cairo, Egypt, 1356–1363/758–764 AH. (photo: Djehouty via Smarthistory, CC BY-SA 4.0)

On the exterior, an unprecedented four minarets were ordered for the complex including two flanking the portal and two flanking the dome on the outer corners of the mausoleum on the maydan, or public square (see Figure \(\PageIndex{18}\)). Out of the four giant minarets, only three were constructed and two of those collapsed; the first while Sultan Hasan was still alive in 1361 killing roughly three hundred people, mostly children attending the kuttab (primary school). The collapse was seen as a bad omen and the sultan was murdered a month later. Another minaret collapsed in 1671 while the mosque was full of worshipers, but luckily it fell away from the crowd. The only original remaining minaret is on the south-east corner of the mausoleum and reaches a staggering height of approximately 84 meters above street level.

The minarets of the Mosque of Sultan Hasan are famous for initiating the famous three-tiered minarets—a signature of Mamluk religious architecture—for which the city of Cairo is famous. In the Sultan Hassan mosque, the first several stories of the surviving minaret are integrated into the wall of the complex. Above that the minaret’s base is square until, further up it transitions into an octagon with small balconies on every other face. A larger balcony with muqarnas separates the middle tier, which is also octagonal, but significantly truncated and without decoration. The top balcony is articulated with muqarnas, upon which an open colonnade pavilion is capped with another ring of muqarnas that transitions to a tapered stone bulb. This example was to be emulated and refined throughout the rest of the Mamluk period, forever defining Cairo’s iconic skyline.

World famous mosque

Although Sultan Hassan was murdered by one of his own Mamluks, construction of the mosque continued after the Sultan’s death, but was never completed. His body was never recovered nor entombed in this mosque. During his short reign, he managed to restore the mosque of al-Hakim in Cairo and monuments in Mecca, establish a madrasa in Jerusalem, build a lavish palace in the citadel in Cairo, construct a mausoleum for his wife and one for his mother, build several sabil-kuttabs (school and water dispensary), and founded one of the most famous mosques in the world. Clearly, architecture was a way he could express his ambitions. The building remains one of the most ingeniously designed mosques in the history of Islamic architecture; no other Mamluk monument displays as many innovations as this single building.

Notes:

1. Khalil al Zahiri (born c. 1410): “Elle n’a pas de pareille au monde,” quoted from Max Herz, La mosquée du sultan Hassan au Caire (Cairo, 1899)
2. The sail-kuttab (fountain and school for boys) was built, but it was destroyed when the minaret fell on it in 1361 killing many of the children. The accommodations for the physicians (and 10 medical students) was stipulated in the waqf and its location was specified as occupying an upper floor behind the entry way—but this area is now ruined and we do not know for certain whether it was built and destroyed, or never built at all.

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Articles in this section:

• Glenna Barlow, "Arts of the Islamic world: The medieval period," in Smarthistory, August 8, 2015 (CC BY-NC-SA)
• Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker, "Mohammed ibn al-Zain, Basin (Baptistère de Saint Louis)," in Smarthistory, December 15, 2015 [transcript] (CC BY-NC-SA)
• Dr. Christian A. Hedrick , "Madrasa and Friday Mosque of Sultan Hasan, Cairo," in Smarthistory, November 18, 2021 (CC BY-NC-SA)