School of Sultan Hassan

School of Sultan Hassan

                                      Sultan Hasan

The Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan is a massive Mamluk era mosque and madrassa located near the Citadel in Cairo. Its construction began 757 AH/1356 CE with work ending three years later "without even a single day of idleness".^[1] At the time of construction the mosque was considered remarkable for its fantastic size and innovative architectural components. Commissioned by a sultan of a short and relatively unimpressive profile, al-Maqrizi noted that within the mosque were several "wonders of construction".^[1] The mosque was, for example, designed to include schools for all four of the Sunni schools of thought: Shafi'i, Maliki, Hanafi and Hanbali

 

Looking down from the Citadel at the Mosque of Sultan Hasan today

The mosque itself

The mosque was built close to the Citadel, on the site of the Palace of Yalbugha al Yahawws. This was meant as a pleasing site for the Sultan to look down on from his palace in the Citadel

The site in 1907During the medieval era, an open space connected the mosque and the Citadel.[3] This proximity and the mosque's sturdiness gave the mosque a unique strategic significance. Ibn Ilyas reported that it was used by Mamluk rebels as a fort to attack the Citadel from. Al-Maqrizi, noted that "as soon as there occurred strife between the people the state, a number of amirs and others ascended to the top of the mosque and began to bombard the Citadel from there".[1] For this reason, the Sultan Janbulat tried to demolish the mosque, but after three days of attempted demolition, he had little success and gave up. Al-Maqrizi noted that the Sultan Barquq demolished the stairs to the two minarets to make it less useful in attacks against the citadel.






The sheer size of the mosque set it apart. Al-Maqrizi noted that the height of the large iwan was superlative. It measured 65 cubits, five higher than another notably large mosque, the Iwan of Kusraw at Al-Mada'in in Iraq.[1]






Several unique features about the mosque should also be noted. Al-Maqrizi noted that the great dome that was not equaled in Egypt, Syria, the Maghreb, or Yemen. Despite the thickness of the mausoleum walls, the dome was made of wood. The mosque's dome was of an uncommon shape, that of an egg. The positioning of the mausoleum between two minarets was quite novel. Four minarets were planned, but they were never completed. This was an exceptional number for a mosque. The design of the twin portal minarets was uncommon as was the gigantic size of the mosque. The mosque is the only instance of chinoiserie in Mamluk architecture.[2] The setup of the mosque was novel as well. The mausoleum was placed directly behind the prayer hall. This might have been thought profane, but it was not at the time.

 

 

Stela of Akhenaten and His Family

                      Stela of Akhenaten and His Family     

 

 

This shrine stela also from the early part of the Amarna period depicts Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Princesses Meretaten, Mekeaten, and Ankhesenpaaten worshiping the Aten as a family. Dorothea Arnold in her article "Aspects of the Royal Female Image during the Amarna Period" discusses the plethora of reliefs depicting intimate family moments. While Akhenaten leans forward to give Meretaten a kiss, Mekeaten plays on her mother's lap and gazes up lovingly.

At the same time Ankhesenpaaten, the smallest, sits on Nefertiti's shoulder and fiddles with her earring. Arnold claims that the shrine stela "relates to the Aten religion's concept of creation" in which the King and Queen are viewed as "a primeval 'first pair." At the top of the composition, the sun-god, Aten, represented by a raised circle, extends his life-giving rays to the Royal Family. The relief uses the concept of the "window of appearances" or a snapshot of life. The figures are framed by a fictive structure which suggests the form of a square window. Aldred in his book Egyptian Art calls this "a brief moment in the lives of five beings as they are caught in an act of mutual affection". In actuality, the royal palace at Akhetaten had a window from which the royal couple could observe the city and address their subjects.



It is accepted that Akhenaten and Nefertiti had six daughters. No son was ever shown in reliefs.



The names of the daughters were; Meritaten (1349 BC) - Meketaten and Ankhenspaaten (1346 BC) - Neferneferuaten (1339 BC) - Neferneferure and Setepenre (1338).



In 1337 BC the official family, with all six of Nefertiti's daughters was shown for the last time.



In 1336 BC Meketaten died in childbirth.



In 1335 Nefertiti seemed to vanish, assumed dead.

            

_Egyptian Musuem_

                                                           _Egyptian Musuem_

                                           

                                                                Introduction

When Mariette pasha arrived to egypt during 1857 for buying some Coptic manuscripts but he became fond of the Ancient Egyptianmonuments and worked in the field of excavations in places in egypt  the first group was collected from the egyptian articrafts by the egyptian government in asmall building in Azbakiah garden in Cairo   in 1858 were transferred into abuilding within the Citadel of salah el-Din. Mariette pasha established the first Museum at Boulaq . It was asmall Museum consisting of four rooms but unfortunately was destroyed and the contents were stolen and lost becauseof the Nile flood in 1878 . Therefore , they transferred these remains object to the Giza palace of Ismail paha and consudered to be the second museum until Matiette pasha established the third museum (Egyptian Museum) at el-tahrir square in 1897 and opened 1902 during the reign of khideve Abbas Helmi . Egyptian Museum has over 120000 pieces of all different area and times pharonic periods and take arectangle in the form in the middle of the south side is the main entrance door it consist of two floors

                                                                

The King Khafra

                                                                   The King Khafra

                                                          Khafra (Greek, Χεφρήν; Chephren) — also Khafre — was an Egyptian pharaoh of the Fourth dynasty, who had his capital at Memphis. According to some authors he was the son and successor of Khufu, but it is more commonly accepted that Djedefre was Khufu's successor and Khafra was Djedefre's. Khafra's two chief wives were Queen Meresankh III whose mastaba tomb is located at Giza and Queen Khamaerernebty I who was the mother of his successor, Menkaura. Khafre was the builder of the second largest pyramid in the Giza Necropolis complex (his is 3 metres shorter than Khufu's). Most modern egyptologists also credit him with the building of the Great Sphinx.




His name, Khaf-Ra, means "Appearing like Ra" for some translators and "rise Ra!" for others; the meaning is most probably the first, according to the hieroglyphic representing his name, which includes that crown. In ancient time his name was read out Ra-chaf to honor the supreme god Ra
           

-2 The Narmer Palette -

                                                                 -2 The Narmer Palette -







The name of Narmer is shown in a serekh between the two bovine heads.




The palette's top

                                                                                                                                                                        


                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Decoration






The top of the palette is 'decorated' in a similar manner on both sides: the name of the king is inscribed in a so-called serekh between two bovine heads. The animal's heads are drawn from the front, which is rather uncharacteristic of later Egyptian art. In most publications, these heads have been described as cows' heads, which is interpreted as an early reference to the cult of a cow-goddess, perhaps even Hathor. It is, however, equally possible that the animals are bulls and that they refer to the bull-like vigour of the king, a symbolism that occurs elsewhere on the palette and would be continue to be used throughout the Ancient Egyptian history as well.



- The Narmer Palette -

                                                             - The Narmer Palette -

      The front (left) and back (right) of the Narmer Palette.

                                                                  


  Named after the Horus Narmer, whose titulary appears on both its faces, the Narmer Palette is a flat plate of schist of about 64 centimetres in height. Its size, weight and decoration suggest that it was a ceremonial palette, rather than an actual cosmetics palette for daily use.




It was found in Hierakonpolis, the ancient Pre-Dynastic capital located in the south of Egypt, by the British archaeologist J.E. Quibell during the excavation season of 1897/98, in a deposit, along with other artefacts stemming from the early beginnings of the recorded history of Ancient Egypt: fragments of a ceremonial mace head belonging to Narmer and some other mace head fragments inscribed with the name of the Horus 'Scorpion', one of Narmer's predecessors. The exact finding circumstances of the palette have not been noted and there appear to be some contradictions in the publication of Quibell's work at Hierakonpolis.