PsB
Citizen of Nowhere™
My favourites are mostly in Egypt: Cairo is one of the finest repositories of medieval architecture in the world.
Three of the best:
- Hassan: most impressive specimen of Mamluk style, basilica plan. Grandiose but austere. Perfect.
- Ibn Tulun: beautiful courtyard mosque with very old style minaret
- Al Azhar: arguably the oldest university in the world. A wonderful jumble of styles, incorporating recycled architectural elements from Greek/Roman periods.
(Edit: they would appear to have given the place the Saudi renovation treatment, all shiny marble everywhere. Most unfortunate.)
Mausoleums in Cairo:
- Qaitbey: small but perfectly formed specimen of late, highly ornate Circassian Mamluk style. (Was on the Egyptian one-pound note for many years).
- Barquq more or less same period, slightly less ornate
- Qalaun mausoleum/madrasa, late Bahri Mamluk style
There are some very fine and impressive mosques in Istanbul of course, but I don’t like the Ottoman style quite as much.
(Richgilb, over to you.)
Three of the best:
- Hassan: most impressive specimen of Mamluk style, basilica plan. Grandiose but austere. Perfect.
- Ibn Tulun: beautiful courtyard mosque with very old style minaret
- Al Azhar: arguably the oldest university in the world. A wonderful jumble of styles, incorporating recycled architectural elements from Greek/Roman periods.
(Edit: they would appear to have given the place the Saudi renovation treatment, all shiny marble everywhere. Most unfortunate.)
Mausoleums in Cairo:
- Qaitbey: small but perfectly formed specimen of late, highly ornate Circassian Mamluk style. (Was on the Egyptian one-pound note for many years).
- Barquq more or less same period, slightly less ornate
- Qalaun mausoleum/madrasa, late Bahri Mamluk style
There are some very fine and impressive mosques in Istanbul of course, but I don’t like the Ottoman style quite as much.
(Richgilb, over to you.)
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