Spolia and Classical Revivals in Legitimacy Discourses: From Cordoba to the Mamluk Mosques of Cairo

Abstract

In 1267–1269, the first Mamluk sultan al-Ẓāhir Baybarṣ ordered the construction of a great Friday mosque in Cairo. Its formal and typological features inspired by the Syrian architecture established a symbolic connection with the classic Islamic caliphates (Umayyad and Abbasid) to strengthen and legitimise his sovereignty over Egypt and Syria. In 1335, Sultan al-Nāṣir Muḥammad ibn Qalāwūn (d.1341) reconstructed the great mosque of the citadel of Cairo following Baybarṣ’ model. The revival of the hypostyle prayer hall, the association of dome plus basilica, as well as the use of glass-mosaics and spolia materials are some of the visual strategies and sources of self-affirmation analysed in this chapter in the light of previous practice in the tenth century in al-Andalus Umayyad caliphate.