Cairo in the Islamic Mamluk-era

Service Description

Mamluk Cairo: Lives and Stones Shaping a Medieval Metropolis This course offers an immersive exploration of the urban and cultural history of Cairo—one of the world’s most monument-rich Islamic metropolises—through the lens of the human lives that shaped its built environment. During the Mamluk period (1250–1517), Cairo served as the centre of a vast Sultanate stretching across Egypt, the Levant, and the Hijaz. Despite the severe environmental constraints of its arid landscape, the city underwent unprecedented spatial expansion, driven by ambitious architectural projects commissioned by ruling networks. Set against a backdrop of intense political volatility, factional struggles, and dramatic turns of fortune, this course examines how political actors left their permanent mark on the city’s urban fabric. By pairing extant architectural monuments with rich medieval Arabic primary sources—including chronicles, biographical dictionaries, and waqf documents—students will examine the dynamic interplay between patronage, power, and urban space. Prerequisites: Intermediate to advanced reading knowledge of Arabic, or prior familiarity with medieval Arabic historical texts. Session Titles (10-Week Overview) 1. Brotherhood Beyond Death: The Mosque of Sanjar and Salar and the Story of Two Friends 2. Escaped and Saved: Lājīn finding a refuge in the Mosque of Ibn Ṭūlūn 3. The Nurse’s Legacy: The Mosque of Sitt Hadaq Miska, the Beloved Qahramāna 4. The (Dis)trusted Friend: Amīr Baktamur al-Sāqī, the Ultimate Insider 5. Brothers-in-Arms, Rivals in Arts: amīr Ṭāz, Shaykhū, and Sarghitmish under the Citadel 6. Defying the Nile: Manjak al-Yūsufī, Jarkās al-Khalīlī and Cairo’s water crisis 7. Seizing, Destroying, Rebuilding: Jamāl al-Dīn Ustādār and the making of al-Jamāliyya 8. From Shackles to the Throne: Sultan al-Muʾayyad Shaykh and the prison transformed into a mosque 9. Expanding the Northern Outskirts: Azbak, Yashbak, and the environmental engineering of the suburbs 10. Death in Gaza: Amīr Azdamur at the service of Sultan al-Ghawrī Angela Isoldi is a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University specializing in the socio-economic and environmental history of the medieval Middle East. She earned her BA in Arabic and Persian Languages and Literatures from “L’Orientale” (Naples)