Gender and Piety in Medieval Architecture of the Eastern Mediterranean: The Courtyard House and the Madrasa

Fatimid al-Qahira before the arrival of Saladin in 1168

Saladin’s own palace-citadel outside the previous ones for his Ayyubid dynasty (1171-1250)

Arrival of Saladin and his Ayyubid dynasty turns al-Qahira intoa bourgeois merchants’ neighborhood

1087 after 1168

I. The Arab courtyard house (bayt or dar) – historical and environmental origins of its design

Arab courtyard houses in Cairo, Egypt, 13th – 14th cen.

I.

Arab courtyard houses in Cairo, Egypt, 13th – 14th cen.

These courtyard houses date to the Mamluk dynasty in Egypt (1250-1517)

House of Hasan Kachif, from Napoleon’s Description de l’Egypte (1809-28)

Greek Roman Arab

bayt – humble dwellingdar – grand domestic complex

I.

I. A. What are some possible precedents for the Arab courtyard house?

classical Greek oikosHellenistic peristyle house remains of humble dwellings (bayt) in Fustat grand domestic complex (dar) in Fustat

medieval houses in Cairo

I. B. Physical environment: urban setting in a very hot climate

roof top wind catch (malkaf)

I. B.

Emir Bashtak’s Palace, 1356

I. C. Cultural factors: How were social relationships mediated by the architecture of the Arab crtyd house?I. C. 1. Facade fenestration

wood lattice (mashrabiyya) enclosed balconies

a Cairene house of the Mamluk era

I. C. 2. Door and bent-axis corridor

Large door (hospitality) Bent-axis corridor (privacy)

I. C. 3. main courtyard and ground-floor public rooms

General view of courtyard in a traditional Arab house of medieval origin

House of Qasim Bey, from the Description de l’Egypte (1809-28)

I. C. 3.

House of Hasan Kachef, from the Description de l’Egypte (1809-28)

I. C. 4. public reception rooms (qa ‘a, mandara, or salamlek)

indoor public reception room

Emir Bashtak’s palace

House of Hasan Kachef, from the Description de l’Egypte (1809-28)

I. C. 4.

John Fredrick Lewis, The Mid-Day Meal, 1875

House of Solyman Aghafrom the Description de l’Egypte (1809-28)

indoor public reception room (qa ‘a or salamlek)iwan of qa ‘a domed chamber of qa ‘a

I. C. 5. more exclusive reception areas: upstairs loggias and indoor salons

2nd-floor loggia (maq ‘ad) over the courtyard

John Fredrick Lewis, The Mid-Day Meal, 1875

2nd floor loggia doubles as summer sleeping room

no dining roomno kitchen in small houses

I. D. How were gender relationships negotiated by the architecture of an Arab courtyard house?

the harim could have its own courtyard, fountain, and parlors

I. D. 1. women’s domain (harim = “holy fold” or private quarters)

wood lattice (mashrabiyya) facing onto courtyards

I. D. 1.

behind a mashrabiyya in Bashtak Palace view seen from this mashrabiyya

II. Religion and domestic space: evidence that houses had religious significance

B. OrientationA. Architectural similarities

II.

C. Proximity D. Religious significance from decoration

Cairo: al-Qahira’s schools, mausolea, and hospitals

II. B. 3. What are some public amenities financed by wealthy citizens

Kostof’s

Hospital, Mausoleum, and Madrasa of Qala’un, 1284-85

Sabil kuttab – Fountain and School

IV. Private patronage of public buildings in medieval Islamic cities: the madrasa

Madrasa of Sultan Hasan, Cairo, Egypt, 1356Lessons in early Islamic Architecture: *An architecture experienced from within

*Buildings not designed as a single balanced unit. *Creation of ways to express non-tectonic values

IV. A. What functions did madrasas serve in the Muslim world?

Madrasa of Sultan Hasan

mosque iwan

IV. A. 1.

Madrasa of Sultan Hasan – four iwans (vaulted halls) for teaching

IV. A. 1. Where had instruction taken place before the madrasa?

Madrasa of Sultan Hasan

madrasasmosques

Ibn Tulum mosque, 876, Cairo

IV. A. 2. Where did students live and where did they study?

Madrasa of Sultan Hasan

Dormitory courtyard

I. B. Medieval trends in Islamic architecture: exalting the individual 1. How is the benefector (S. Hasan) commemorated in the architecture?

Madrasa of Sultan Hasan, the Sultan’s mausoleum

IV. B. 2. What is significant about the tomb’s location on the qibla?

Madrasa of Sultan Hasan, the Sultan’s mausoleum

qibla

Madrasa of Sultan Hasan

IV. B. 3. How is the madrasa a power building?

standing next to the ar-Rifa'i mosque (1869)before construction of the ar-Rifa'i mosque

Madrasa of Sultan Hasan

IV. B. 3.

before construction of the ar-Rifa'i mosque

Great Mosque at Kairawan

Great Mosque at Cordoba

Madrasa of Sultan Hasan

IV. B. 3. a. How is the exterior articulated compared to the plain perimeters of the early period of Islamic rule?

Early medieval Late medieval

House of the Prophet

mosque at Kufah, Iraq

Great Mosque of Damascus, 706

Dome of the Rock, 685

IV. C. Later medieval trends in Islamic architecture: classical architecture supplanted by the antiquity and the contemporary ideas of another place and culture (Iraq)

AD

670

Great Mosque at Samarra, Iraq, 848-52

Shrine of Imam Dur, Dur (near Samarra), Iraq, 1085

IV. C. 2. Use of muquarnas

IV. C. 2.

muqarnas – Madrasa of Sultan Hasan, entrance portal

IV. C. 2. The four-iwan plan or courtyard from Iraq: iwan - a roofed or vaulted hall open at one end

Pre-Islamic: iwan hall in palace

Imperial palace at Ctesphion, Iraq, AD 550

Islamic: 4-iwan courtyard

Madrasa at Mustansiriya, Iraq, 1227-34

IV. C. 3.

4-iwan Madrasa at Mustansiriya, Iraq, 1234 4-iwan Madrasa of Sultan Hasan, Cairo, 1356