Islamic heritage · Cairo
Madrasa of al-Nasir Muhammad
A Mamluk madrasa and mausoleum at Bayn al-Qasrayn on al-Mu'izz street, raised in the name of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad beside the Qalawun complex.
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The story
The madrasa was built in the name of the Mamluk sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun, though work began in the mid-1290s (sources give 1294-95 or about 1296) under Sultan al-Adil Kitbugha. When al-Nasir Muhammad returned to the throne in 1299 he oversaw its completion, usually dated to 1303. It stands next to the earlier Qalawun complex and, later, the Madrasa of Sultan Barquq. It taught the four schools of Islamic law and had a fine library, and its dome shelters the tombs of the sultan's mother and his son Anuk.
Good to know
- Construction began in the mid-1290s and was completed around 1303.
- The madrasa taught the four schools of law and housed a library.
- Its marble Gothic portal originally served as the gate of a church in Acre.