madrasa and mosque of al-ashraf bersbay at al-mo’iz street

Internal Description:

The entrance door leads to a rectangular vestibule (Dirkah) roofed by a flat wooden ceiling. This Dirkah has two doors: the left door leads to Sabil-Kuttab, while the right one leads to the corridor. The Dirkah leads to the corridor that leads to the open court.

The Open Court:

The open court is surrounded by four Iwans, the most important of them is the Qibla Iwan which overlooks the open court with a horse-shoe arch. The faced Iwan (north western Iwan) also overlooks to the open court with a horse shoe arch, while each of the two sides Iwans overlooks the open court with pointed arch.

The Qibla Iwan

The Qibla Iwan is roofed by a wooden flat ceiling decorated with gilded geometrical decorations (looking like the faced Iwan's ceiling).

In the middle of the Qibla wall, is a marble prayer niche (Mihrab). This Mihrab is crowned by a double Ablaq pointed arch resting on two marble columns.

This Mihrab is divided into three decorative parts: The upper part is decorated with geometrical decorations in the shape of Sun Rays. The middle part is decorated with geometrical decorations. The lower part is decorated with arched shallow vertical cavities looking like small Mihrabs.

Over the Mihrab, there is a (Qamariya) made of stucco interlaced with colored glass.

At the two sides of the Mihrab, are four arched recesses, each one contains a metal grill window and is topped by an arched rectangular window made of stucco interlaced with colored glass.

Beside the Mihrab, is a wooden pulpit has a front door decorated with star patterns inlaid with ivory and topped by an inscription panel containing the foundation text of the pulpit.

The front door leads to staircase which leads to the Imam's seat that is surrounded by an open pavilion topped by a bulbous top

The two sides (Rishas), the two balustrades and the two Rawda doors of the pulpit, all are decorated with star patterns inlaid with ivory. 

The Mausoleum:

It's a square room covered by a dome supported by stalactite transitional zone. The drum of the dome has a number of arched rectangular windows (Shamsiyas). The outer face of the dome is decorated with Zigzag decorations.