Front Minaret of the Sultan Qalawun Complex

The minaret of the hospital, madrasa (school) and mausoleum of Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun. This minaret exhibits influences foreign to Egypt. The square bottom and middle storeys recall the shape of Syrian minarets, but the interlacing arcades were perhaps the work of craftsmen from Andalusia and Morocco. The three components of Qalawun’s complex were built in thirteen months between June 1284 and August 1285. These buildings, in a section of al-Mu‘izz li-Din Allah Street known as Bayn al-Qasrayn—Between the Two Palaces—provide the earliest monumental examples of the new styles and techniques brought to Egypt from Syria, and dramatically illustrate what was to become the hallmark of Mamluk architecture: imposing scale and profusion of ornament.

For more, see Caroline Williams's article ‘Trendsetter’ from Rawi magazine’s Issue 3 available online (link in details).