History of the Building and Patron

[Picture source: © 1999 Julia Gonnella]

The congregational mosque (jamiʿ) of Altunbugha an-Nasiri[1], also known as Altunbugha as-Salihi[2], is dated by a monumental inscription on its main portal to 718/1318[3]. However, the historian Ibn ash-Shihna (804-890/1402-1485) mentions its construction in the year 723/1323[4]. That is why Meinecke assumes that the mosque was commissioned in 718/1318 and completed in 723/1323[5]. Herzfeld supposes that the mosque was not only started, but also finished in 718/1318 because of the wording of the inscription (fī šuhūr and al-ḥamdu llāhi), and that the patron of the mosque might have endowed a large waqf in 723/1323[6]. Burns, on the other hand, assumes that the date 723/1323 refers to the construction of an associated sufi monastery (khanqah), which was added to the mosque five years later[7]

This khanqah, which no longer stands, might be identified with an adjacent building north of the mosque, captured on historic photographs from the beginning of the 20^th century[8]. Ibn ash-Shihna mentions such a khanqah, although it had already fallen into disuse by the time he composed his description of the city of Aleppo. He mentions that the building, which he thinks was formerly a khanqah, was then used to store salt from Lake Jabbūl (milḥ al-jabbūl[9]), a saline lake southeast of Aleppo[10]. He furthermore mentions a turba situated next to it, which was during his time inhabited[11]. Herzfeld states that only remains of the khanqah were preserved in the 1950s[12].

In addition to the date of construction, the monumental inscription on the main portal mentions the patron of the mosque: Altunbugha an-Nasiri. He was raised among the mamluks of Sultan al-Malik an-Nasir Muhammad and was appointed amīr muqaddam alf, i.e. he was the commander of thousand horsemen, the highest position one could attain in the Mamluk army[13]. Altunbugha an-Nasiri was twice governor of Aleppo: 714-727/1314-1327 and 731-739/1330-1338. Between his stints in Aleppo, and afterward, he was governor of Damascus.[14]

During his two governorships in Aleppo he undertook several incursions to Armenia, namely in 720/1320 and 722/1322. After Sultan al-Malik an-Nasir Muhammad’s death in 741/1341 he was involved in the struggles of succession. He fled to Egypt, where he was imprisoned and died in Alexandria in ca. 743/1343.[15]

Besides constructing his own mosque Altunbugha an-Nasiri is said to have commissioned building work in the Umayyad mosque. An undated monumental inscription in the qibla wall mentions his name[16]. On the basis of Ibn ash-Shihna and Ibn al-ʿAjami, Meinecke attributes the construction of the eastern riwaq to him[17]. Ibn al-ʿAjami also credits him with the construction of the dikkat al-mubaligh (sudda)[18]. Herzfeld dates these measures to Altunbugha’s first term in office, 714-727/1314-1327, specifically after the conquest of Sīs in 722/1322, which brought him the wealth to finance such building activities[19]. This wealth acquisition also led Herzfeld to assume that Altunbugha an-Nasiri endowed a large waqf to his own mosque in 723/1323[20].

Altunbugha also constructed a fountain[21] and a mausoleum close to his mosque, where his son Khidr (d. 737/1336-37) was buried[22].