The Streets of Cairo and the Salihiyya Madrasa

Abstract

Sultan Salih’s major architectural work was the Madrasa Salihiyya, supported by a perpetual endowment, in the center of the walled city of Cairo. The second institution in the Islamic world to include the four major branches of Islamic law within one building, and the first in Egypt, it was the first to organize the educational program in four iwans (large open-sided halls), a typology that soon became ubiquitous. The solemn yet extensive ornament on its long facade, dedicatory inscriptions, large projecting entrance block, and tall ornamented minaret reveal the attention paid to urban space in that period in Cairo, especially the public space of the street.