The Khanqah of Baybars II is a khanqah, or convent, located in the historic Sharia Gamaliya, in Islamic Cairo, Egypt. Built between 1306 CE and 1310 to accommodate four hundred Sufis and children of the Mamluk Sultanate,[1] it is the oldest khanqah that has survived in modern Cairo.
Baibars al-Jashankir (Arabic: بيبرس الجاشنكير) or Baibars II (d.1310, Cairo) (royal name: al-Malik al-Muzaffar Rukn al-Din Baibars al-Jashankir al-Mansuri; الملك المظفر ركن الدين بيبرس الجاشنكير المنصورى), whose nickname was Abu al-Fath (أبوالفتح), was known as al-gashankir, "the taster", a court position he held at one point. He served as the Atabek of Egypt and after the death of Emir Salar, he became the Sultan of Egypt in 1309.
Baibars II commissioned the building in 1307 when he was still an amir. The minaret, iwan, and mausoleum were completed by Baybars in 709 AH(1309/1310CE).[2] In the same year, Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad, at the beginning of his third and longest reign (r.1309–1340), closed the complex when Baybars was killed. al-Nasir Muhammad reopened the complex in 1325 and ordered Baybars' name to be removed from the tiraz.[3]
Architecture
The site includes a khanqah, a ribat (no longer extant), and associated structures that comprise Baybars' funerary complex.[3] Within the confines of the irregular site, the various functions of the khanqah were interwoven into an architecturally rich building complex. The elegant facade has an imposing arched entrance that projects into the street. The doorway is set back in a marble recess covered with a hood of stalactites. A block of pharaonic stone engraved with hieroglyphics was used for the doorsill.
The minaret, capped with a ribbed dome that was once covered with green faience tiles, is located on the south side of the building. The first tier is square and trimmed with rows of stalactites, or Muqarnas vaulting, while the second is cylindrical.[3]
↑Fernandes, Leonor (1987). "The Foundation of Baybars al-Jashankir: Its Waqf, History, and Architecture". Muqarnas. 4: 21–42. doi:10.2307/1523094. JSTOR1523094.
Abd al-Wahhab, Hasan (1942). "Asr al-Mamalik al-Bahriyya IV". Majallat al-'Imara. 4 (1–2): 59–68.
Behrens-Abouseif, Doris (2007). Cairo of the Mamluks: A History of Architecture and its Culture. London: I.B. Tauris.
Behrens-Abouseif, Doris (1989). Islamic Architecture in Cairo. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Creswell, K.A.C (1978). The Muslim Architecture of Egypt. Vol.II. New York: Hacker Art Books.
Jarrar, Sabri; Riedlmayer, András; Spurr, Jeffrey B. (1994). Resources for the Study of Islamic Architecture. Cambridge, MA: Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture.
Meinecke, Michael (1992). Die Mamlukische Architektur in Ägypten und Syrien (648/1250 bis 923/1517) (in German). Glückstadt: Verlag J. J. Augustin.
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