The Mosque of Qijmas al-Ishaqi

Abstract

The subject of this thesis is the Burji Mamluk mosque of Qijmas al-Ishaqi built near the end of the fifteenth century during the reign of sultan Qaytbay. It was founded at a time when the city of Cairo had already become heavily built-up and when much maneuvering was needed in order to find a good spot in the city to build on. Qijmas al-Ishaqi, being a powerful emir of sultan Qaytbay, managed through several acts of istibdal to acquire the plot he wanted on al-Tabbana street in the Darb al-Ahmar area. At a time when the focus was on extensive decoration and not so much architectural innovation, the mosque of Qijmas still managed to show ingenuity in both its structure and its decoration. Most striking is the mosque's staggered façade that unfolds like a fan before the eyes of the passerby, and the bridge linking the mosque to its dependencies on the other side of the street. The mosque did not only accommodate the street contours, but it took complete charge of it, and fully integrated it into its plan. This in itself constituted an architectural feat given the odd triangular plot the mosque was built on. The decoration of the mosque is both innovative and surprising at times. It does not simply conform to the Qaytbay decorative repertoire but it displays its own decorative language, especially in its mihrab, its portal and its extensive epigraphy. Also adding to the interesting aspect of the mosque were its oddities such as the minaret and the dome, which were decorative misfits that appeared to have been left in an almost unfinished state. The kuttab lost its usual place above the sabil and was moved altogether to the other side of the street from the mosque. In my research, I relied on a number of primary sources â most notably the Comité bulletins and the waqfiyya of the mosque â and secondary sources. In my discussion on the restoration of the mosque, I conducted a close reading of the Comité bulletins, which provide a thorough documentation of the preservation works. The waqfiyya was important in clarifying the function of certain areas of the mosque, which may have otherwise been unclear to me. The mosque is a highly impressive architectural piece that relies heavily on the element of surprise, with unexpected elements scattered throughout it. In many ways, it is an unusual building that not only followed the Qaytbay building style, but it altogether surpassed it.