Al-Mansour Qalawun Complex (Madrassa, Tomb and Hospital)

On al-Muizz Street, the old ceremonial spine of medieval Cairo, a stone façade 67 metres long rises above the street, its pointed-arched panels framing tall windows and its minaret climbing in three stages near the entrance. Behind it is the complex that Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun built in 1284–1285: a madrasa, a mosque, his own mausoleum and a hospital, all raised in about thirteen months. It is counted among the major monuments of Mamluk architecture, and the façade shows clear similarities with Gothic and Crusader building.

The interior of the mausoleum is the jewel. Four piers and four columns, some reused from earlier palaces, with Corinthian capitals form an octagon carrying a high drum and dome; the walls are faced with marble mosaic and carved stucco, the floors with opus sectile, and the ceilings with painted and gilded coffers. Its mihrab is often considered among the most lavish of its kind. Qalawun and his son al-Nasir Muhammad are buried here, and for generations new Mamluk emirs were invested beneath this dome. The present dome dates from 1908, replacing one rebuilt in the Ottoman era. Across the passage, the madrasa taught all four schools of Islamic law as well as hadith and medicine, and its mihrab glitters with glass mosaic and mother-of-pearl in a revival of the Umayyad tradition seen at the Dome of the Rock.

The hospital, built at the back of the complex, was the most ambitious of its age. According to the historian al-Maqrizi, Qalawun founded it to fulfil a vow made while he lay ill in the Nur al-Din hospital in Damascus. It offered treatment, medicines, food, shelter and clothing to the sick and poor and treated patients for more than five centuries, until it was demolished in 1910. The building had a darker side too: al-Maqrizi records that the emir in charge of the works drove builders, passers-by and Mongol prisoners to finish it, and seized neighbouring property. After an earthquake in 1302 al-Nasir Muhammad restored the complex and its minaret. It stands on the site of the Fatimid Western Palace, in the heart of Historic Cairo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Getting there

The complex stands at Bayn al-Qasrayn on al-Muizz Street in Islamic Cairo, about 2 km from central Cairo. Cairo International Airport (CAI) is about 15 km away.