Restoration of Mamluk mihrab of Al-Jaqmakya School in Damascus completed

The mural restoration laboratory at the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums (GDAM) has completed the restoration of the Mamluk mihrab of Al-Jaqmakya School in Damascus with aim of preserving its originality and maintaining its archeological, historical and architectural position.

Located in the middle of Al-Jaqmakya Shool, this Mamluk mihrab is one of the most beautiful historical monuments in Damascus as it contains wonderful decorations, mosaics as well as marble slabs inlaid with colored mother of pearl.

Restoration works of this ancient mihrab, which was constructed in the seventh century AH, included cleaning and removing the color and cement traces left by previous restoration operations on parts of its columns, fixing the color in writings and fixing the damage in the columns crowns which were decorated with gold paper.

Rrestoration also involved some of the mural paintings on the school walls that were damaged as a result of humidity. It also included filling the voids and cracks and compensating for the lost colors.

The Jaqmakya School was built by Saif al-Din Jaqmaq al-Arghanshawi in 1421 AD. It is located near the northern gate of the Umayyad Mosque. It was concerned with teaching the Holy Quran, Arabic calligraphy and various sciences, and it was distinguished for architecture, decoration and building engineering from the Mamluk era.

The school was massively damaged during the French occupation’s bombardment of the city of Damascus, but it was restored several times during the past century. Since 1978, the school has been turned into a museum of Arabic calligraphy and for the discoveries related to this art.

Hamda Mustafa