Islamic heritage · Cairo
Complex of Sultan Barquq
A majestic Mamluk complex on al-Mu'izz street with a mosque, madrasa, khanqah and domed mausoleum, founded by the first of the Burji Mamluk sultans.
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The story
The complex was commissioned by Sultan al-Zahir Barquq, the first of the Burji line of Mamluk sultans, and built between 1384 and 1386. It was designed as a mosque, a madrasa teaching the four Islamic schools of thought and a khanqah for Sufis, with a domed mausoleum chamber for the sultan, although Barquq was finally buried in another complex. With the neighbouring Qalawun complex and Madrasa of al-Nasir Muhammad it forms one of Cairo's greatest ensembles of Mamluk monumental architecture, in the Bayn al-Qasrayn section of al-Mu'izz street.
Good to know
- The complex was built between 1384 and 1386.
- Sultan Barquq was not buried in the mausoleum attached to the complex but in another funerary complex.
- It stands on the site of an inn known as Khan al-Zakat, according to Arabic Wikipedia.