Zawyat and Sabil Faraj Ibn Barqouq

This small Sufi establishment opposite Salih Tala'i' Mosque is noteworthy primarily for the lovely panels of inlaid polychrome stone on the exterior. The small room on the left has a very handsome wooden muqarnas ceiling. It is likely there was originally a kuttab, but nothing of it survives. The zawiya, which was restored by the”Comité de conservation des monuments de l'Art Arabe in 1923, was moved from its original location directly fronting Bab Zuwayla to accommodate the widening of Darb al-Ahmar Street. The portal was also added at this time.

The Main façade

Architecture

The painted and gilded wooden ceiling of the sabil’ room is a masterpiece of muqarnas decoration. Muqarnas is the Arabic word for the three- dimensional ornamental system that is unique to Islamic architecture. It is composed primarily of intersecting niches arranged in layers, creating formations resembling naturally formed stalactites. Sabils were meant to offer drinking water to pedestrians. It has always been an honored act of charity in Islamic tradition. Medieval patrons gave this act a permanent placeby adding public water dispensaries, called sabils, to the religious complexes they constructed. As an extended act of charity, a kuttab (Qur’anic school for children) was built above the sabil, and together the two formed an architectural until that became very popular in Cairo during the mamluk period (1250 – 1517 A.D).

The mihrab is blaqnked by two windows.

1050
people are checking in Zawyat and Sabil Faraj Ibn Barqouq

the Zawiya of Farag ibn Barquq originally stood very close to the Bab Zuwayla, the southern gate of the walled Fatimid city. In 1923, in response to a comprehensive scheme to modernize parts of medieval Cairo and enlarge streets, the entire building was dismantled and reconstructed on a site 12 meters south of its original location. The move was carried out by the “Comité de Conservation des Monuments de l'Art Arabe”. At the beginning of the 2000s, the building was restored by the American Research Center with funding from the United States Agency for International Development.

Decorative elements

Restoration

Stained-glass windows

Location:Cairo, Egypt
Coordinates:N 30°02′56″ E 31°16′44″
Built:Est. 811 AH / 1408 AD
Governing body:Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
Architectural Type:Zawiya & Sabil.
Architectural style:Mamluk.

Written inscriptions above the Sabil window

Decorative elements

Marble sits above the Shazrawan

Bab Zuwaila

Bab Zuwayla, built in 1092, is one of three remaining gates in the City Walls, marking the southern limit of the Fatimid City of Cairo. It was constructed by the powerful Fatimid vizier Badr al-Jamali, who ruled Egypt from 1074 to 1094. It has twin minarets, which can be accessed via a steep climb. Bab Zuwayla was constructed, along with Bab al-Futuh and Bab al-Nasr, during the Fatimid period. An Armenian himself, Badr al-Jamali is reported to have employed Armenians from northern Mesopotamia, as well as Syrians, in a vast building campaign, which he started shortly after he assumed power. This work marks the beginning of a newly cultivated taste for stone in Cairo