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Concepts
The Black Death: The name given to the bubonic plague that swept across Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean between 1347 and 1349 and killed between one third and one half of their population. This was perhaps the single most important factor in shaking the medieval world and changing its demographic, religious, economic, and belief patterns (its memory is still preserved in many folk tales and nursery rhymes). In Cairo, it is estimated, up to half the population was wiped out in one season. Though faintly detectable in the architecture of the city (perhaps with the exception of the Madrasa of Sultan Hasan), the Black Death caused major damage on the urban and civic levels and further weakened the Mamluk system.
The Madrasa of Amir Sarghatmish: (1356) Probably the prototype for the royal mosque of Sultan Hasan, this mausoleum-madrasa complex was built next to the mosque of Ibn Tulun. It has a four-iwan plan and the space between the iwans is filled with the students’ rooms, while, unusually, a dome surmounts the majlis-derived prayer iwan.
The Madrasas of Sultan Hasan: (1356-61) The most magnificent of all Cairene structures, this four-iwan, four-madrasa structure stands across from the Citadel. The mausoleum is right on the qibla axis of the mosque, which represents a significant shift in planning and symbolism. The huge portal is oriented to impress the viewer coming from the Citadel. The minarets mark the beginning of the line of development of the 3-tiered Mamluk minarets. This monument has alone inspired so many copyists and imitators of its architecture until the twentieth century, and induced inperpreters to see in it a symbol of the political dichotomy of the time, or a representation of the humbling effect of the Black Death, or even a diagram of the social hierarchy in the city of Cairo.
The Qubba al-Sultaniyya: (1360s) A double-domed, double shell, royal structure of an unknown patron, this qubba shows how Central Asian and Anatolian influences (bulbous domes, carved mihrab, double shells) were adapted into the Cairene architectural vocabulary.
Monuments
