Bahri Mamluk reception Hall
| Name of structure: | Bahri Mamluk reception Hall |
| Extended name of structure: | Citadel of Cairo, reception area belonging to al-Qasr al Ablaq |
| Type of structure: | Palace |
| Country or main area: | Egypt |
| Region within country or main area: | |
| City or area within region: | Cairo |
| Date of structure: | c. 1292, al-Ashraf Khalil (r. 1290-93) |
| Century of structure 1: | 13 AD |
| Century of structure 2: | |
| Specific place of mosaic: | Frieze on walls high above dado |
| Brief descriptive contents of mosaic: | Fragments - Tree with fruit, buildings including a mosque (?), urn and goblet on table, rock formations Green, white, red, gold, black, pale blue, yellow, white, blue, turquoise |
| Date of mosaic: | 1292 |
| Century of mosaic 1: | 13 AD |
| Century of mosaic 2: | |
| Silver tessera at site: | No |
| Gold tessera at site: | Yes |
| Colour tessera at site: | Yes |
| Were other materials found at site (i.e., glass cakes)? | |
| Has analysis been done? | |
| Samples taken from where? | |
| Excavation and restoration campaigns: | Excavated in 1985 by Egyptian Antiquities Organisation. Removed in 2008 to be cleaned, restored and documented. |
| Bibliography of mainly technical resources: | Abdulfattah, Iman R. and Mamdouh Mohamed Sakr, ‘Glass Mosaics in a Royal Mamluk Hall: Context, Content, and Interpretation’, in Doris Behrens-Abouseif, ed., The Arts of the Mamluks in Egypt and Syria – Evolution and Impact (Bonn: Bonn University Press, 2012), 203-222 Kenney, Ellen, ‘Mixed Metaphors: Iconography and Medium in Mamluk Glass Mosaic Decoration’, Artibus Asiae, 66.2 (2006), 175-200, pp. 179-80 Rabbat, Nasser, The Citadel of Cairo: A New Interpretation of Royal Mamluk Architecture (Leiden: Brill, 1995), pp. 161-69 Rabbat, Nasser, ‘The Mosaics of the Qubba al-Zahiriyya in Damascus: A Classical Syrian Medium Acquires a Mamluk Signature’, ARAM, 9 (1997), 227-40, see pp. 232-3 |
| URLs: | |
| Comments: | The removed fragments are intended to be displayed in the planned Museum of Historic Cairo in the grounds of the al-Azhar Park. This museum is a joint SCA-Aga Khan Trust for Culture initiative. |