KHANQA OF SULTAN FARAG IBN BARQUQ

To find Farag Ibn Barquq Street from the Qurqumas Complexes, take the road that borders them and walk 500 m south, then turn left. The western façade is grandiose and the layout of the buildings is very clear: vestibule, sabils and kuttabs on the first floor, mosque and madrasa, with the mausoleums recognizable by the domes that cover them, the khanqah of the Sufis and the medicinal garden in the background. This khanqah was completed in 1411 by Sultan Ibn Farag Barquq, who was succeeded by Sultan al-Muayyed, who had his mosque built in gratitude for his release from the prison in which he had been imprisoned by Ibn Farag Barquq.

The main entrance door, decorated with stalactites, adjoins a sabil and his kuttab, whose finely drawn woodwork can still be seen. The ceiling of the vestibule alternates red and white geometric patterns, as do the stones used for the exterior façade. A reuse from the Pharaonic period serves as a separating step from the corridor leading to the courtyard of the mosque; cartouches and hieroglyphics can still be seen.

The courtyard of the mosque is bordered by four porticoes whose architraves are enhanced with a Mamluk motif. To the left is the mausoleum of Sultan Ibn Farag Barquq and one of his sons. The dome is beautiful, and its geometric patterns of red, white and black chevrons are sublime.

Adjacent to the sultan's tomb, which itself still has its polychrome inscriptions, a memorial column has been erected at the top of which is a carved vase from which two flowers, apparently papyrus, fall, symbolising the Prophet Muhammad, Hasan and Hussein. To the right is the mausoleum of the sultan's daughters, whose dome is also beautifully carved. The two mausoleums are closed with finely carved mashrabiya jealousies. One also notices the quality of the stained-glass windows which give the interior of the mausoleums a rich subdued light.

On the opposite side, a spiral staircase leads to the north kuttab of the building, and higher still to the terrace from which the two minarets rise. Here one can admire the detail of the two domes of the mausoleums, the Mamluk battlements that cap the porticoes, and see the roofs and minarets of Qurqumas and Inal to the north, and Barsbay and Qatbay to the south. There is a rare quietness in this building that is conducive to meditation and study, which is still sought after by students of Islamology.