Changes Over Time

With the hiatus after aẓ-Ẓāhir’s death, the Ayyubid construction of the Madrasa Sulṭānīya comprised two phases. This implied also a change in plan, which was visible in the eastern wall of the prayer hall. Here, two lateral openings, which had been built in analogy with the western side, were closed and the connection with the mausoleum was created with a doorway on the middle axis. Later changes to the building concerned the top of the minaret, which was replaced sometime during the late-Mamluk or Ottoman period, and the courtyard façades. In the north wing, the façades at both sides of the portal were rebuilt with doors and windows with segmental arches, which indicate a late Ottoman date. The same can be observed on the three large arcades of the prayer hall, which were closed with masonry, including windows with segmental arches. Herzfeld argues, from a short inscription of the Mamluk period, that parts of the building were probably severely damaged already in the 9^th/15^th century.[1] The lateral wings of the complex were almost completely in ruins in the early 20^th century and were rebuilt after 1944, with rows of residential cells.[2]