Architecture during the reign of Sultan Qalawun defies the laws of time and place
Sultan Al-Mansur Saif al-Din Qalawun established an integrated architectural group of institutions that include a school, a mausoleum and Bimaristan, i.e. a hospital, an office and a sabil and did not know before that except the combination of the school and the shrine, as happened in the school of Saleh Najm al-Din Ayyub, almost facing the Qalawun school. Qalawun chose for his facilities the site of the Fatimid Western Palace and it had a house called the polar house relative to Prince Munisa Ayyubid medical and it was before that the property of the king's six, sister of the ruler by order of Allah and bought this Qalawun The house and its surroundings and compensated its inhabitants with a palace that was known as the Emerald Palace, and assigned the task of supervising the architecture to Alam al-Din Sanjar al-Shuja'i and began to demolish the polar house, Al-Nuwairi says commenting on the brief period in which the construction took place (and if the seer saw this great architecture and heard that it was built in this short period, he may deny it) and it is worth noting that his celebration of Bimaristan is great and made it a service to all, not just Ali Sultan, and these facilities all compose a homogeneous architectural unit and have one eastern façade with one main entrance and extends from the entrance to Bimaristan in the back vestibule opens it on the northern side the dome of the mausoleum and on the southern side the school, and these include The constructions with their architecture, design and decorations at the high level reached by the art of architecture under the auspices of Qalawun, as they are full of types of materials that have been used in a beautiful artistic use such as colored marble, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, hollow copper, gilded wood, stained glass, stucco decorations, engraved stones, gilded mosaics, and others, as well as geometric drawings, writings and plant decorations, It is worth noting that the most luxurious antiquities remaining from this group are the main façade and the dome. From the madrasa, we received one iwan that the Department for the Preservation of Arab Antiquities repaired in the year 1338 AH/1919 AD. We reached from Bimaristan small landmarks that were completed during the reign of Al-Nasir Muhammad. The path and the book were built, the minaret was rebuilt, and Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda demolished the dome. In the year 1326 AH/1908 AD, the Committee for the Preservation of Arab Antiquities rebuilt it in the style of the Dome of Al-Ashraf Khalil bin Qalawun. Al-Mansur Saif Al-Din Qalawun is considered one of the most prominent figures in his family, which exalted his reputation through his victories and architectural facilities that still symbolize the greatness of Cairo during his reign.