The 15th-century mosque and madrasa of Al-Ustadar in mediaeval Cairo re-opened on Sunday after restoration. Nevine El-Aref was there Click to view caption In the Al-Gamaliya quarter in Al-Tambashkiya district, adjacent to the collapsed palace of Al- Mussaferkhana, the mosque and madrasa (Qur'anic school) of Gamaleddin Al-Ustadar stands waiting for its worshippers and visitors. This edifice, which has been re-opened by Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, Minister of Awqaf (religious endowments) Hamdi Zaqzouq and Cairo Governor Abdel-Rehim Shehata, has finally reached the end of restoration after three years of hiding under scaffoldings, piles of sand, and the workmen who have been polishing and strengthening its walls. The mosque and madrasa, like all other Islamic monuments located in heavily populated areas, was suffering seriously from environmental danger including air pollution, a high subsoil water level, a high level of humidity, leakage from the Al-Madiaa' (a fountain used for ritual ablution), and outdated and decayed sewerage installed 100 years ago, not to mention the more recent adverse effects of the earthquake in 1992 which increased the number of cracks all over the Al-Ustadar's walls. "One of the most serious causes of the damage has been the ill use of both the mosque and madrasa by worshippers as well as the encroachment of traders over the centuries," Hosni said, adding that bazaar owners renting shops and stall spaces in the narrow street running parallel to and under Al-Ustadar had been largely responsible for its deterioration. Hosni said they had changed the inner form of the mosque's foundations, enlarging them by demolishing the mosque's supporting walls which in turn led to the instability of Al- Ustadar. The walls of the monument cracked, masonry was damaged and the condition of the ceiling and the water fountain was critical. The ceiling decorations were heavily stained with smoke, while most of the flooring was broken. The mosque had been closed to prayer and visitors. Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said all the restoration had been carried out according to the latest and most scientific methods. "Every effort was made to ensure that all original architectural features were retained," he said. Hawass added that the restoration of Al- Ustadar had two important advantages: individual monuments were being preserved for future generations, and the entire neighbourhood was being revived and upgraded. Abdallah El-Attar, head of the Islamic and Coptic antiquities department of the SCA, said the aim of restoration was mainly to strengthen the foundations and protect them from future damage. This was achieved using the "micro- pile system" which, he said, was the installation of sharp pointed columns beneath Al- Ustadar's archaeological complex to reinforce its foundations. The walls were reinforced, missing and decayed stones were replaced and masonry cleaned and desalinated. The mosque now stands as proudly as it did in the past. Parts of the damaged marble floor of the water fountain have been dismantled, restored and replaced in their original position. Missing Qur'anic texts embellishing the mosque's walls have been completed and the authentic white and black marble floor of the mosque has been cleaned. Missing pieces of the floor have been replaced. Despite the progress being made by the Ministry of Culture to save a part of the nation's heritage that has crumbled from decades of neglect, some historians and archaeologists are concerned that the ministry is guilty of shoddy workmanship in the basin of Al-Ustadar's water fountain. According to an internal report prepared for UNESCO by a monitoring mission that visited Cairo last August, "Despite the impressive work executed in Al-Ustadar the installation [in the water basin] of built-in light fixtures according to the whims of an electrical engineer is out of place and not acceptable." The water basin, the report concludes tersely, "now resembles a modern Jacuzzi." El-Attar said that the light installed inside the basin was only to focus on its beautiful decoration. "But when the UNESCO mission expressed their concern we removed the lamps and left the basin as it was," he said. The mosque and madrasa of Al-Ustadar is a unique edifice constructed in 1407 (810 of the Hijra, or Islamic, calendar) under the orders of Prince Gamaleddin Al-Ustadar, one of the influential Mamluke Circassian princes during the reign of Al-Naser Farag Ibn Barqouq, who began his rule of Egypt in 1399 AD. He was responsible for many constructions in this area and is the one from whom the name of this quarter, Al-Gamiliya, is derived. The mosque and madrasa of Al-Ustadar has a distinguished Islamic architectural façade and a well-decorated mimbar (pulpit). The qibla is decorated with white, blue and gold arabesque panels, while the small turquoise pilasters that extend across the wall remain as hints of the former richness of the decoration. During its heyday, the madrasa contained a large library with a large number of books which the famous mediaeval historian El-Maqrizi mentioned in his records. Hosni promises that the month of Ramadan will witness other openings of Islamic monuments which have been restored. It includes the mosques of Sarghatmish, Qanibaye Al- Mohammadi and Amr Ibn Al-'As in Mediaeval and Old Cairo, as well as Al-Busiri in Alexandria.
