Three
Mameluke monuments in Islamic Cairo are to be reopened to the public after
restoration. Written By/ Nevine El-Aref.
Three
Mameluke-period monuments, the Al-Muayyedi Bimaristan, the Tekkeyet Al-Bustami
and the Darb Al-Laban Gate in Islamic Cairo are to be reopened to the public
next week after restoration work.
A
Bimaristan is a Mameluke hospital, while a tekkeya is a Sufi charitable
building. The buildings have been shrouded in scaffolding for the past three
years as restoration work continues, with it being slated to finally come off
next week.
The
monuments, like others in heavily populated areas, were suffering from
environmental dangers, including air pollution, high subsoil water levels, high
levels of humidity, water leakage, the effects of a decayed sewerage system
installed 100 years ago, and the adverse effects of the 1992 earthquake that
increased the number of cracks in their walls, leading in some cases to partial
collapse.
“One
of the most serious causes of the damage to the buildings has been encroachment
from the monuments’ neighbours who used the tekkeya for example as a residential
building and the bimaristan as a garbage dump,” Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, director of
the Historic Cairo Rehabilitation Project that supervised the work, told
Al-Ahram Weekly.
He
said the walls of the three monuments had cracked and partly collapsed, masonry
was damaged, and the condition of the ceilings was critical. Decorations were
heavily damaged and several parts were missing, while most of the flooring was
broken.
Minister
of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany said the restoration had been carried out
according to the latest scientific methods. “Every effort was made to ensure
that all the original architectural features were retained,” he said, adding
that the restoration of the buildings had had important advantages in that
individual monuments were being preserved for future generations and the entire
neighbourhood was being revived and upgraded.
Abdel-Aziz
said that the aim of the restoration was mainly to strengthen and consolidate
the monuments and protect them from future damage. The walls were reinforced,
cracks were treated, façades were consolidated, missing and decayed stones were
replaced, and masonry was cleaned and desalinated. Tilted pillars and walls were
readjusted to their original positions, broken woodwork was re-installed and
missing parts were replaced with others of the same shape, size and material.
The
ceilings were consolidated and insulated with special material to prevent the
leakage of rainwater into the monuments. A special system was also designed to
accumulate rainwater in one place and feed it into the main sewage system.
The
areas surrounding the three monuments were cleaned, restored and upgraded in
order to be venues hosting cultural events as well as for holding workshops to
raise the cultural awareness of their inhabitants.
The
Al-Muayyedi Bimaristan was built by one of the most important Circassian
Mameluke sultans to rule Egypt, Al-Muayyad Sheikh Al-Mahmoudi, who reigned
between 1418 and 1420 CE. The Bimaristan is the second public hospital still
remaining from the period after that of the Mameluke sultan Qalawun built in
1284 in Al-Muizz Street in Islamic Cairo…. READ MORE.
