Mamluk Jerusalem

Saladin conquers Jerusalem on September 26, 1187. The Mamluk rules Jerusalem from 1244 to 1516. The Western Wall connecting to the Temple Mount is knocked down, but the wall of the structure becomes and remains a religious significance. During the Mamluk Period, Jerusalem is made a center of religious study with attention to schools and mosques. The population dwindles to 10,000, and the city is economically impoverished. The Jews continue to return to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem becomes politically and militarily insignificant. It is used as a place of political exile. However, Jerusalem gains religious prestige. There are also intensive development of the Haram and building of schools, hospices, and hostels. The Mamluks use Crusader structures as quarries for ston. Colonnaded madrasas are built around the Haram. During 1351 to 1353, Jerusalem suffers from the Black Death.

The Mamluk architecture consists of walls that are built of alternating red and white courses of stone. The structures are dome-shaped, and there are muqarnas decorative technique inside domes and above entrances. Entrances and walls are composed of alternating black and white inlay.

Al-Madrasa Al-Ashrafiyya is a Qur’anic school. It is called the “third jewel of Jerusalem” after the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. It is built in 1482 by Sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbey. The architecture uses dome-shaped structure and black and white geometric designs. The Ghawanima minaret is on the northwestern corner of the Haram and on the foundations of an Umayyad minaret. It is built by the Chief Judge of Jerusalem.

Rabbi Moses ben Nachman makes aliyah in 1276 CE. He founds Ramban Synagogue, which becomes Jewish Center.  He argues that Aliyah is a commandment upon all Jews. He also develops Kabbalah, Jewish Mysticism. It is a vision of a spiritualized Jerusalem and it makes spiritual aliyah to God possible.