The Cotton Merchants' Gate ( ) is one of the gates of the

al-Aqsa Compound Al-Aqsa (; ) or al-Masjid al-Aqṣā () and also is the compound of Islamic religious buildings that sit atop the Temple Mount, also known as the Haram al-Sharif, in the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City of Jerusalem, including the Dome of the R ...

(). It is by the western esplanade of the compound and leads to the Cotton Merchants' Market, a . It is also called the Gate of the Cotton Merchants' Market ( ). Its intricate eastern façade makes it one of the most recognizable and "grandest of the Haram gates".

History

It was built under the supervision of

Tankiz Sayf ad-Din Tankiz ibn Abdullah al-Husami an-Nasiri, better known simply as Tankiz (; died May 1340), was the Damascus-based Turkic peoples, Turkic ''na'ib al-saltana'' (viceroy) of Syria from 1312 to 1340 during the reign of the Bahri dynasty, Bah ...

in 1336, during the time of Sultan

an-Nasir Muhammad Al-Malik an-Nasir Nasir ad-Din Muhammad ibn Qalawun (), commonly known as an-Nasir Muhammad (), or by his kunya: Abu al-Ma'ali () or as Ibn Qalawun (1285–1341) was the ninth Mamluk sultan of the Bahri dynasty who ruled Egypt between 12 ...

of the

Mamluk Sultanate The Mamluk Sultanate (), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks ...

. The 14th-century historian al-ʿUmarī explained that the gate was constructed to link the compound with the 's market street, which was also built by Tankiz around that time: in 1336-37.

Description

There are ten descending steps to reach the gate. Its eastern façade faces the inside of the compound and features a recess with a

semi-dome In architecture, a semi-dome (or half-dome) is a half dome that covers a semi-circular area in a building. Architecture Semi-domes are a common feature of apses in Ancient Roman and traditional church architecture, and in mosques and iwans in Isla ...

. The semi-dome has a gently pointed arch, and its

voussoir A voussoir ( UK: ; US: ) is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault.“Voussoir, N., Pronunciation.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7553486115. Acces ...

has

ablaq ''Ablaq'' (; particolored; literally 'piebald') is an architectural technique involving alternating or fluctuating rows of light and dark stone. It is an Arabic term describing a technique associated with Islamic architecture in the Arab world. It ...

(alternating) masonry of red and beige bricks. It also contains five rows of

muqarnas Muqarnas (), also known in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe (from ), is a form of three-dimensional decoration in Islamic architecture in which rows or tiers of niche-like elements are projected over others below. It is an archetypal form of I ...

. Between the semi-dome and the door is a

trefoil A trefoil () is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings, used in architecture, Pagan and Christian symbolism, among other areas. The term is also applied to other symbols with a threefold shape. A similar shape with f ...

-shaped arch, with

patterns in black and beige bricks. Above the door is a straight stone

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case ...

composed of three external pieces. There used to be a small window in the trefoil arch's tympanum, but the window was blocked in 1927.

Environs

The Ablution Gate is nearby and to the south. These are the closest gates to the

Dome of the Rock The Dome of the Rock () is an Islamic shrine at the center of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on the Temple Mount in the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City of Jerusalem. It is the world's oldest surviving work of Islamic architecture, the List_of_the_ol ...

, with the Fountain of Qaytbay near the gates. Immediately north of the gate is the Khātūniyya Madrasa, and even farther north is the Arghūniyya Madrasa. North of the madrasas is the Iron Gate.

External links

Photos of the Cotton Merchants' Gate
at the

Manar al-Athar Manar al-Athar is a photo archive based at the Faculty of Classics at the University of Oxford which aims to provide high-quality open-access images of archaeological sites and buildings. The archive's collection focuses on areas of the Roman Em ...

photo archive *

References

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History

Description

Environs

See also

External links

References