The Yalbugha Mosque is a Mamluk

Mamluk

A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...

-era mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

 in Damascus

Damascus

Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...

, Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

, situated along the Barada

Barada

The Barada is the main river of Damascus, the capital city of Syria. It flows through the spring of `Ayn Fijah , about 27 km north west of Damascus in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, but its source is Lake Barada, located at about 8 km from Zabadani...

 River and overlooking Marjeh Square

Marjeh Square

Marjeh Square is a major square in downtown Damascus, Syria. The square was the central part of the city in the first half of the last century, before Damascus expanded further...

. It was built by Mamluk princes in 1264 outside the city walls west of the citadel. The mosque was described as one of the most famous, influential and beautiful mosques in Damascus. It served as a resting point before the departure of the Hajj

Hajj

The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...

 caravan from Damascus.

History

The Yalbugha Mosque was built in 1264 in an area known as al-Bahsa or Taht al-Qalaa ("below the citadel"). The mosque takes its name from Yalbugha, the governor of Damascus, who restored it in 1443. The ancient mosque was demolished in 1975 and replaced by a bigger structure bearing the same name. The new mosque remains unfinished due to uneven settlement of the structure.

Architecture

The original mosque's plan consisted of a rectangular prayer hall with a courtyard to its north. The courtyard had three muqarnas

Muqarnas

Muqarnas is a type of corbel used as a decorative device in traditional Islamic architecture. The term is similar to mocárabe, but mocárabe only refers to designs with formations resembling stalactites, by the use of elements known as alveole.Muqarnas takes the form of small pointed niches,...

entrances from the east, north and west. Surrounding the courtyard from three sides are rooms that were used as a madrasa. The minaret was attached to the northern wall of the courtyard, while the central part was adorned by an ablution

Wudu

Wuḍhu is the Islamic procedure for washing parts of the body using water often in preparation for formal prayers...

 fountain and an arched kiosk to the side.

Interior

The prayer hall was accessed through twelve archways topped with twenty four windows, that ran from the courtyard. The qibla

Qibla

The Qiblah , also transliterated as Qibla, Kiblah or Kibla, is the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays during salah...

deocrations were kufic

Kufic

Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts and consists of a modified form of the old Nabataean script. Its name is derived from the city of Kufa, Iraq, although it was known in Mesopotamia at least 100 years before the foundation of Kufa. At the time of the emergence of...

inscriptions incised into gypsum bands. The mihrab

Mihrab

A mihrab is semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla; that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying...

niche resembled that of the Umayyad Mosque

Umayyad Mosque

The Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus or formerly the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist , is located in the old city of Damascus, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world...

 and was built with white marble and crowned by a dome. To the west side of the mihrab is the minbar

Minbar

A minbar is a pulpit in the mosque where the imam stands to deliver sermons or in the Hussainia where the speaker sits and lectures the congregation...

. The wooden minbar was adorned with elaborate geometric and floral patterns.

Modern Mosque

The only element that has been preserved from the Mamluk mosque was the eastern courtyard entrance portal. It is now on view in the garden of the National Museum of Damascus

National Museum of Damascus

The National Museum of Damascus is a large museum in the heart of Damascus, Syria. The most popular part of the museum is the reconstruction of the 2nd century CE Dura-Europos synagogue.- Location :...

. The portal was built with alternating courses of basalt

Basalt

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

 and limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

.