Name of Monument:

Shrine (Mausoleum) of Sayyida Ruqayya

Also known as:

Mashhad of Sayyida Ruqayya

Location:

The Shrine is located in al-Ashraf Khalil Street, in the south of old city, close to the Congregational Mosque of Ibn Tulun, Cairo, Egypt

Date of Monument:

Hegira 527 / AD 1133

Period / Dynasty:

Fatimid

Patron(s):

Al-Sayyida Ulam al-Amiriyya, the wife of the Fatimid caliph, al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah (r. AH 495–524 / AD 1101–30).

Description:

The Shrine is associated with the venerated lady known as Al-Sayyida Ruqayya, daughter of the Imam 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Righteously Guided Caliph (Rashidun). This monument was also used as a viewing platform where visitors could climb to the roof and view the new moon. In this way the beginning of the Arabic months in the Islamic calendar could be pinpointed.
What remains of the building is rectangular with a tripartite structure. The biggest, middle section is square in plan with all four sides measuring 12 m, and it is covered by a dome. It opens out onto two side bays, which are rectangular in shape, by means of two entrances with horizontal lintels.
One of the most important and distinctive features of this monument is in the middle section's transition zone from the square to the drum of the dome. The transition is made by a row of small keel-arched niches resembling muqarnas, a device that represents a transformation in the design and layout of dome architecture, in which previously the zone of transition had consisted of large keel-arched openings in the corners of the square. Following the innovative breakthrough of this dome, muqarnas appeared in the domes of the Ayyubid period.
Around the drum of the dome, is an inscription band in kufic script containing Qur'anic verses. This band is considered the oldest epigraphic inscription to be seen on a mausoleum in Egypt. The base of the octagonal dome is characterised by eight windows in stucco; there are two windows on each side. The lower parts of these windows are embellished with beautiful stucco work, considered to be a unique example of arabesque decoration in the Fatimid period. The dome from the outside is lobed in shape.

View Short Description

One of the charitable constructions commissioned by the wife of the Fatimid caliph, al-Amir bi Ahkam Allah, the shrine was dedicated to the memory of Sayyida Ruqayya, daughter of Imam 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Righteously Guided Caliph. A prominent architectural feature of the building is the transition zone of the dome composed of arched niches, which later developed, in the Ayyubid period, into the muqarnas or stalactite decoration.

How Monument was dated:

This building was dated based on the epigraphic inscription in the dome, which includes the name of the builder and the date of construction.

Selected bibliography:

Behrens-Abouseif, D., Islamic Architecture in Cairo: An Introduction, Cairo, 1998.
Berchem, M. van, Une Mosquée du Temps des Fatimides au Caire, Cairo, 1889.
Creswell, K. A. C., The Muslim Architecture of Egypt, Vol. I, Oxford, 1952.
Maher, S. M., Masajid Masr wa Awliya'uha al-Salihoon [Mosques of Egypt and their Devout Sponsors), Cairo, 1971.
Sameh, Kamal al-Din, Al-'Imara al-Islamiya fi Misr [Islamic Architecture in Egypt], Cairo, 1991. Williams, C., “The Cult of Alid Saints in the Fatimid Monuments of Cairo”, (Part II: The Mausolea), Muqarnas 3, pp.39–60.

Citation of this web page:

Tarek Torky "Shrine (Mausoleum) of Sayyida Ruqayya" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;eg;Mon01;5;en

Prepared by: Tarek TorkyTarek Torky

Tarek Abdel Aziz Torky holds a BA in Islamic and Coptic Antiquities from Cairo University (1982). He is currently Head of the Statistics Department at the Information Centre of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and reporter of the committee set up to prepare for the celebrations of the centennial of the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo. As Expo Curator for the Discover Islamic Art project in Egypt he prepared the database information for the Egyptian monuments included in the project and participated in formulating the dynastic and cross-dynastic exhibitions. He has participated in the first phase of the Islamic Art in the Mediterranean project as product manager and prepared the texts and photos for the catalogue Mamluk Art: the Splendour and Magic of the Sultans (MWNF, 2001). In 2002 he obtained a scholarship for Med. Master on new technologies for valorisation and management of Mediterranean Cultural Heritage in Ravello, Salerno.

Copyedited by: Majd Musa
Translation by: Amal Sachedina (from the Arabic).
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: ET 05

RELATED CONTENT

 Artistic Introduction

 Timeline for this item

Islamic Dynasties / Period

Fatimids


On display in


Download

As PDF (including images) As Word (text only)