11 - The Late Bahri Period (1341-82)
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.
Monuments:
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.