The Madrasa al-Mustansiriyya in Baghdad (finished 1233): a late Abbasid tour-de-force, this monumental madrasa was built by the caliph al-Mustansir on a site overlooking the river Tigris. It accommodated teaching in the four schools of Sunni jurisprudence and in hadith (Prophet’s traditions), and students were lodged in separate cells on two floors. The madrasa’s choice location and pronounced monumentality reflect its high caliphal patronage.