Site and Urban Network

[Picture source: © 1920 Creswell]

The mosque of Altunbugha an-Nasiri is situated southeast of the citadel. It is located at the intersection of Ibn Shaddad Street, Saʿid bin al-ʿAss Street and Maslama ibn ʿAbd al-Malik Street, in which also the Ibn al-Utrush Mosque is situated.[1]

Mamluk authors locate the mosque next to the maidan al-aswad, the black place[2], and close to the Khandaq ar-Rum, a ditch the Byzantines dug in the East of the city[3], which the fortification wall followed in the northern and eastern parts of the city[4].

While Meinecke assumes that the mosque was built in the south, outside the city wall[5], Mamluk authors stress that it was founded within the city walls and that it was the first mosque in which the Friday payer was held after the Great Mosque[6]. Meinecke furthermore assumes that the surrounding quarter developed during Altunbugha’s governorates in 714-727/1314-1327 and 731-739/1330-1338[7].

The architecture of the mosque, however, suggests it was located on the very margins of the city, near, but within the city walls. Herzfeld states that the mosque’s eastern wall was indeed the city wall[8]. This assertion is supported by the fact that this wall is more solid in the layout than the remaining outer walls[9]. Furthermore, a building inscription almost in the middle of this wall, dated Jumada II 903/ January - February 1491, refers to the order to construct the city wall during the reign of the Mamluk sultan al-Malik al-Nasir Abu l-Saʿadat Muhammad (r. 901-904/1496-1498), the son of the former sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf Qaytbay, by the governor of Aleppo Jan-Balat under the direction of Saif ad-Din Misrbay, the governor of the citadel of Aleppo fig.01[10]. A recess with an arrow slot inserted into this wall[11] furthermore hints to the fact that the mosque had a defense function within the city walls.

 Finally, its location within the city wall is emphasized by Ibn al-Shihna’s report that the eastern entrance of the mosque leads by a bridge to the outside of the city.[12] Nowadays the ditch is no longer visible and the street level is higher than the entrance.

Figure 1: Eastern wall of the mosque: recess with an arrow slot [Picture source: © Miriam Kühn]