Historical and Architectural Importance
[Picture source: © 2007 Stefan Knost] [Picture source: © 2007 Stefan Knost] 
Figure 20: Minaret. Syrian Heritage, Wolfgang Mayer [Picture source: © 2005 Wolfgang Mayer] The most outstanding architectural feature of the mosque of Mankalibugha ash-Shamsi is its minaret (Fig. 20), which Mamluk historians considered exceptional. Thus Ibn al-ʿAjami mentions the beautiful minaret of the mosque and highlights its cylindrical form.[1] Indeed, it is one of the rare Aleppine minarets that is cylindrical and not octagonal, as was usually the case in Aleppo from the early 8th/14th century.[2] The only other minaret with a cylindrical shaft from that period in Aleppo is that of the Jamiʿ al-Mihmandar (Mid-8th/14th c.).[3] Besides its cylindrical shape in the upper register, the two minarets share the characteristic transition zone of pyramidal projecting masonry, converting a square into an octagonal plan. However, the octagonal region between the square base and circular register of the minaret of the Jamiʿ al-Mihmandar is larger than that of Mankalibugha ash-Shamsi.
Meinecke states that this minaret marks the first appearance of a continuing cylindrical shaft on a minaret in the Mamluk realm.[4] Later examples of cylindrical minarets with continuous diameter and zones divided by ornamental friezes can be found on the Jamiʿ Sultan Sulayman (807/1404-5)[5] and the Jamiʿ ar-Rizq (811/1409)[6] in Hasan Kayf. However these minarets are much more ornate than the one in Aleppo.
The cylindrical shape and this kind of transition zone are characteristic of Ottoman minarets, which might have later inspired some to name the mosque “al-Rumi,” associating this architectural feature with the Ottomans and the Ottomans with Anatolia, or “al-Rum”.[7]
Ibn al-ʿAjami praises features of the mosque other than the minaret, emphasizing the beauty of the mosque in general, especially its mihrab and minbar. He describes both the minbar and the tribune in the entrance door of the prayer room as masterpieces, made of marble and the minbar as also inlaid with coloured stones (fuṣūṣ).[8]
Although the tribune is rather modern and made of wood and the minbar is no longer inlaid with coloured stone,[9] the floral marble carving on the handrail of the minbar is still outstanding in Aleppo.[10] Parallels can only be found on the minbar of the Mosque of Amir Aqsunqur an-Nasiri in Cairo (748 /1347)[11] and later on the Ali ibn Marwan Mosque in Gaza (dated to Mid-15th c.).[12]
Figure 7: Qibla wall and mihrab. Syrian Heritage [Picture source: © 2017 Alaaeddin Haddad] 
Figure 10: Decorative marble panel left to the mihrab [Picture source: © 2007 Miriam Kühn] While the decorative features of the minbar can also be traced in other regions of the Mamluk Empire, the marble decoration of the mihrab is deeply rooted in the Aleppine tradition (Fig. 7).[13] Thus its face arch takes on the decoration of the mihrab of the Madrasa al-Firdaus (633/1235-36).[14] However, due to the narrower proportions of the central qibla bay, they lack the flanking interlacings.[15]
Also setting themselves apart from the plain qibla wall[16] is the marble board left of the mihrab, which itself represents a mihrab (Fig. 10). Here, the flowers in flat relief are less strict and geometrical in arrangement, compared to the flat floral carving on the columns of the mihrab and the handrail of the minbar, for instance. Their almost naturalistic design reminded Meinecke of the floral decoration on the portal of the Nasir Hasan Mosque in Cairo, where this “naturalistic” feature was first used.[17]
