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HANDS ON Traditional Crafts at The City of the Dead in Cairo
The Sabil of Sultan al-Ashraf Qaytbay (No.412), A.D.1472-74 / 877-879 A.H.

The sabil with two large rectangular windows covered with flat arches with elaborate joggled voissoirs adjoins an arcade of two pointed arches – possibly another hawd (drinking-trough for animals) within the funerary complex, in addition to the one north of the mosque. A more ornate sabil is placed at the corner of the mosque. Here, the stonemasonry is of very high quality typical of Qaytbay’s period, but the decoration is limited to muqarnas capitals of engaged corner columns. The windows of the sabil and the arches of the arcade (now roofless) are walled up. The building was restored by the Comité de Conservation des Monuments de l’Art Arabe in the late 19th century, but is decaying again.

This website is a result of a conservation and research project at the Hawd of Sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbey in Cairo's City of the Dead. The project was financed by the European Union Delegation to Egypt with a contribution from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and implemented in 2014 by Cairo-based ARCHiNOS Architecture in association with the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo under supervision of the Ministry of Antiquities and Heritage.

The web site is funded, produced, and designed by ARCHiNOS Architecture.

Website designed in 2014 by Maha Akl for ARCHiNOS Architecture.

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