Site and urban network
[Picture source: © 1990 Julia Gonnella] [Picture source: © 1990 Julia Gonnella] Available sources tell us little about the Mashatiyya Mosque’s history. Tabbakh explains that the mosque probably dates from the 10th / 15th-16th century, based on the form of the mihrab and the minaret.[1] Comparing the half columns that frame the mihrab in the mosque’s courtyard with other buildings in Aleppo from that period would confirm that date. (Fig. 1)
The remains of the Mameluk hall (qaʿa) at the back of the iwan in Bayt Janbulat in the Bandara neighbourhood and the iwan of Khan Qurtbak in the Suwayqat ʿAli quarter (probably constructed around 884/1479-80) possess similar columns.[2] (Fig 2)
Figure 1: Jamiʿ al-Mashatiyya, mihrab in the courtyard [Picture source: © Stefan Knost]] 
Figure 2: Khan Qurtbak, column next to the iwan [Picture source: © 2006 Stefan Knost] We may therefore conclude that parts of the mosque were constructed in the second half of the 15th century. Historian Ghazzi informs us of building activities in 1132/1719-20 by a certain Hajj Muharram ibn Fath Allah that are also confirmed by an inscription above the mihrab. So far, we are unable to determine whether these activities were limited to the mihrab, or else referred to a larger restoration, possibly the enlargement of the mosque.[3]
