Gallery
Description
Property Name: Arghun Shah Mosque
Inventory No: 961-6-5
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2009-08-19
Country (State party): Lebanon
Province: Tripoli
Town:
Geographic coordinates: 34° 26′ 1.84″ N
35° 50′ 26.23″ E
Historic Period: 14th century, 2nd half
Year of Construction: 1394-1398
Style: Classical Ottoman, Mamluk
Original Use: Madrasa, Zawiya
Current Use: Mosque
Architect: Unknown
Significance
The building was built at the end of the 14th century in Tripoli by the governor Arghun Shah. It is a good example of the transformation of a zawiya-madrasa which was built in the Mamluk period to a public mosque most probably in Ottoman era.
Selection Criteria
ii. to exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design
State of Preservation
Prince Arghun Shah Mosque was built during his time in office between 796-800 AH / 1393-1400 CE. It is distinguished by its cylindrical minaret, unlike the Mamluk square minarets. It is above the eastern door bearing the text of a decree issued by Sultan “Qaitbay” dated 880 AH / 1475 CE.
The mosque reflects the three stages of its development from a corner to a Mamluk mosque, then a minaret was added to it during the Ottoman period.
The mosque is open to prayers.
References
Salam-Liebich, Hayat. The Architecture of the Mamluk City of Tripoli, The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, 1983.
Tadmuri, Omar Abdel Salam; Salame-Sarkis, Hassan. Tripoli the Old City: monuments survey-mosques and madrasas: a sourcebook of maps and architectural drawings.
Website of Archnet, http://archnet.org
The Tripoli Internet Database, http://tripoli-city.org