Al-Burtasiya mosque-madrasa

According to an inscription above the entrance, this madrasa was commissioned by ‘Isa ibn ‘Umar Al-Burtasi (d. 1324), and was used for both the teaching of the shafi`ite rite and Friday prayer, as is the case of the mosque-madrasa of Murad I at Brousse (1363), Turkey. In 1700, the historian Al-Nabulsi reported it as being the Great Mosque of Al-Burtasiya, the sixth largest of the twelve mosques in the city.

Located on the bank of the Abu ‘Ali River, the madrasa is built of stone, like all Mamluk monuments in Tripoli. It was surrounded by lodgings, which were destroyed by a major flood in 1955. The north façade has a portal of three-foil arches with alternating black and white stonework, framing a door topped by the foundation inscription and small panels where are carved the names of the Prophet and ‘Ali in geometric Kufic script. As you go in, a passageway leads to a square courtyard covered by a large, very high dome resting on four pendentifs with muqarnas. The drum is made up of two sections with the corner cut off. Each of the eight sided of the lower part encloses an arch containing twin bays and oculi, while those above are adorned with sixteen windows. At the centre of the courtyard is an eight-sided marble fountain. Three rooms of different sizes are found on the east, west and south sides. The latter, the largest, contains the mihrab preceded by a dome, while the other two are covered by simple vaults. Inside, three-coloured (black, white and red) marble panels cover the walls, and mosaics cover the half-dome of the mihrab. On the north side, the mausoleum of the founder presents as a small room with a mihrab and dome. A square minaret, built directly over the portal, has twin-bay windows on three levels. At the top, a small square room rests on a balcony whose muqarnas define triangular pendentifs in relief.

The building presents several elements of different origins. The three-foil portal reflects the influence of the Crusaders that is found in other monuments[1]. However, the windows of the minaret evoke Andalusia, especially those with the horseshoe arches  and those with alternating black and white quoins[2]. Other elements are inspired by Ayyubid architecture, namely the double area of windows of the central dome, of which similar examples are found in Damascus[3], and the pendentifs with muqarnas that find parallels in the madrasa of Al-`Adiliya (1222) in Damascus.

The glass mosaics of the mihrab, representing acanthus leaves coming out of a black and green goblet on a gold background, places the madrasa in a small group of Egyptian and Syrian Mamluk monuments where this decoration technique is used. The Tripoli example is the only one existing in this city, but there are six mihrab with mosaics in Cairo[4], and another in Damascus[5]. Mosaic is also used on the walls of the mausoleum of Baybars in his madrasa Al-Zahiriya (1277-1281) in Damascus. The use of mosaic is part of a revival movement initiated by the Bahrite Mamluk, which ended around the end of the reign of Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad (d. 1340), and may be related to a form of legitimation through a decoration technique that is reminiscent of the golden age of the Umayyad.

[2] Cordoba, twin bays of the Great Mosque, 961-976; Church of Santiago del Arrabal, thirteenth century; Granada, Alhambra.

[3] Mausoleums of Farûkh Shâh (1183) amd Bahrâm Shâh (1224), madrasa al-Ruknîya (1224) and al-Maridânîya (1227).

[4] Mausoleum of Shajarat al-Durr (1250), madrasa of Qalâ’ûn (1285), mosque of Ibn Tulûn (addition by Lâjîn in 1296), madrasa of Baybars (1309), madrasa of Aqbughâ (1333), and mosque of Sitt Misk (1333).

[5] Mosque of Tankiz (1319).