Islamic heritage · Cairo
Sultan Qaytbay Complex
One of the finest monuments of late Mamluk architecture, a funerary complex in Cairo's Northern Cemetery that is pictured on the one-pound banknote.
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The story
The complex was commissioned by the Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Qaytbay and raised in the early 1470s, in the Mamluk desert area of Cairo's Northern Cemetery. It brings together a mosque, originally a madrasa, attached to the sultan's mausoleum, along with residential quarters, a public water fountain, a Quranic school, a drinking trough for animals and a smaller tomb. It is regarded as one of the most beautiful and accomplished monuments of late Mamluk architecture and is pictured on the one-pound banknote. Other Mamluk-era monuments stand close by in the same area.
Good to know
- The complex is pictured on the Egyptian one-pound banknote.
- The complex includes a mosque, mausoleum, water fountain, Quranic school, animal trough and residential buildings.