By Salwa Samir The Maqaad or loggia of Prince Mamai Elseifi is an example of the well-kept maqaads in Islamic Cairo.The loggia is in Beit Elqadi Street, which is at right angles to Muezz lidin Ellah el-Fatimi Street in the Gammaliya district of Islamic Cairo. The maqaad or loggia is a covered hall communicating with the major public rooms on the first floor. It was used from the Middle Ages until the 19th Century as a ceremonial space where the owner of the palace received his male guests. This part of the palace also allows fresh air and sunlight to circulate throughout the palace, and its rows of columns were architecturally compatible and aesthetically pleasing. The maqaadis the only remaining part of Prince Mamai Elseifi's palace, which was built in 1496. A major part of the palace was demolished in the 19thCentury in the reign of Khedive Ismail in order to build Beit el-Qadi Street, to fit in with the khedive's plans for Cairo to be the Paris of the Orient. Mamai Elseifi was a Mamluke prince who lived during the reign of Sultan Qaitbay who ruled from 1467 to 1496. Prince Mamai was in charge of leading the thousands of men who made up the Mamluke army in war time. Prince Mamai played an important role in reconciling the Mamluke and Ottoman states in the first war of the 15th Century. The prince travelled to meet the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II more than once until reconciliation was achieved. But after the death of Sultan Qaitbay and Mamai, the conflict between the Mamluke princes increased and the internal political situation became tense. The maqaad of Mamai Elseifi has a main façade which overlooks Beit el-Qadi Street. It consists of two parts. The upper one has five pointed horseshoe arches carried by four columns. These columns are made of marble with elegant cylindrical bodies, topped by crowns in the shape of lotus flowers. The lower part has three small vaulted rooms used as stores. The entrance leads to the interior of the maqaad which is rectangular, about 32 metres long, and 11 metres high, to the ceiling. Its floor is paved with different-sized stone slabs. The wooden ceiling is intricately decorated with multi-coloured floral designs highlighted in gold. Verses from the Holy Qur'an are inscribed at the edge of the ceiling, in Mamluke Naskh script. The maqaad was renovated recently by the Ministry of Antiquities. The three-year renovation process included reinforcing the walls, treating the cracks, consolidating the façade and the ceiling, replacing the decayed stones with new ones, desalinating the masonry, installing new woodwork of the same shape and size, to replace the old broken wood work and re-touching the gilded ornamented elements. The renovation of Mamai Elseifi's maqaadis part of a national initiative launched by the Ministry of Antiquities in 2015 to restore one hundred historical buildings in Islamic Cairo, a part of central Cairo which is full of hundreds of mosques, tombs, hammams, madrasas and wekalas (caravanserais) dating back to different periods of the Islamic era. In 1979, this area was declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to be a World Cultural Heritage site and one of the world's oldest Islamic cities.
