Description
Property Name: Zahiriyya Madrasa and Mausoleum of Sultan al-Zahir Baybars
Inventory No: 963-11-5
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2007-11-05
Country (State party): Syria
Province: Damascus
Town:
Geographic coordinates: 33° 30′ 41″ N
36° 18′ 23″ E
Historic Period: Bahri Mamluk (1250-1382)
Year of Construction: 1277-1281
Style: Mamluk
Original Use: Madrasa, Mausoleum
Current Use: Mausoleum
Architect: Ibrahim b. Ghana’im
Significance
One of the largest and best-preserved of the Damascene madrasas, al-Zahiriyya was named for Sultan al-Zahir Baybars, the first of the Mamluks sultans.
Selection Criteria
ii. to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning, or landscape design
iii. to bear a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared
iv. to be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history
vi. to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance
State of Preservation
In 1876 it was turned into a general library. Along with al-‘Adiliyya Madrasa, across the street, it was also headquarters of al-Majma’ al-‘Ilmi al-‘Arabi, the premier institution of the Syrian literary renaissance of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
References
Wulzinger, Karl. Al-Athar al-Islamiyya fi madina Dimashq, Matbaa Suriyya, Damascus, 1984.
UNESCO Web Site: http://whc.unesco.org/
Archnet Web Site: http://archnet.org/