Theat-Tankiziyya (Arabic:التنكزية,romanized: al-Tankiziyya,lit. 'the place ofTankiz')[N 1] is a historic building in Jerusalem that included amadrasa.[N 2]It is part of the west wall of theal-Aqsa Compound.It is also known as theMaḥkama building.
The building was created in 1328–1330, funded through awaqf (charitable endowment) byTankiz, aBaḥrite Mamlūk viceroy and emir.[1][2]And the nameTankiziyya commemorates him (Tankiz with thenisba suffix).The endowment also included revenues from several urban businesses and Palestinian villages, such asAyn Qinya.[3][4]
The Tankiziyya served three main purposes: a madrasa, a school for themuḥaddithūn (experts inhadith), and a home for a community ofSufis. There were a set of rules regulating when and where each of the three separate groups would meet for daily recitations of the Qur'an and prayers for Tankiz, his descendants and the ruling sultan.[5]The building also included a library, akhanqah and a school for orphans.[6][4]
It became theMahkamah (Mahkameh, Mehkemeh;المحكمة,al-Maḥkama / Maḥkame, 'law court'), because it housed asharia court (al-maḥkama al-sharʿiyya) from the 19th century to the early years of theBritish Mandate (in the early 20th century). It later housed the president of theSupreme Muslim Council.[7]
It has been taken over by theIsrael Border Police as a police station. Inside, the Israelis have created a Jewish prayer room, which is "sometimes called the 'synagogue inside theHaram'", according to anInternational Crisis Group report. Structural alterations have been made, as there have been an increasing number of people and prayers there.[8]
It is the best example of acruciform madrasa in Jerusalem; its four halls unite in a central area where a marble fountain stands. The entirety of the building "exudes harmony", notes historianMax van Berchem.[9]
Its entrance is set inside a tall portal, considered "one of the finest niche-headed doorways in Jerusalem". Its elements are a combination of geometric precision and free-hand irregularity.[10] The top of the recess is a niche-likesemi-dome covered with radiatingflutes that merge into chevrons. The flute carving "is so delicate as to necessitate very fine joints between thevoussoirs, and these have been most carefully set out".[10] The lower part of the semi-dome has threecourses (rows) ofmuqarnas;[11] the lowest course features two shell ornaments "to give interest to the re-entering angles".[10]
Above thelintel is an inscription between two bands of black-and-whiteablaq. The inscription includes Tankiz'smamluk emblem (a cup), his name and the year 729AH (overlapping partly with 1328 and 1329 CE).[12][13]
The architectural concept of the "hanging madrasa" – having part or all of the interior be built atop aportico or a series of arches – was first applied for this madrasa.[14]
Its eastern façade is inside the western esplanade of the al-Aqsa Compound, where it overlooks theDome of Moses.
Its northeast corner is next to theChain Gate. Its entrance faces north, where there is a small plaza with asebil called theChain Gate Sebil.
The plaza north of the Tankiziyya also includes theTurba as-Saʿdiyya (a tomb) and theRibāṭ an-Nisā’ (a woman's hospice, orribāṭ).[15] The ribat, which was founded by Tankiz in the same year, can also considered to be part of the Tankiziyya complex, even though it is separate from the madrasa building.[6]
West of the Tankiziyya's north entrance are four small shops that belonged to the Tankiziyya. They were among the businesses that generated revenues to support the Tankiziyya.[6][11][4]
Cotton Merchants' Market andKhān Tankiz on the next street to the north were founded by Tankizc. 1336.
Mujir al-Din states that the Tankiziyya was founded as a waqf by the Emir Tankiz al-Nāsirī, viceroy of Syria
a vast system of urban businesses and rural lands of entire villages in Palestine as well as twenty-eight shops was linked to the endowment document of, and designed to secure revenues in support of, the Tankiziyya college. […] The main building consisted of two main floors, with an added roof-top lodge for women. The first floor consisted of themadrasa, a mosque, a library (Khizanat al-Kutub) and various rooms for teaching, rooms for residential scholars and boarding students […]. The second floor included a lodge forSufi teachers, a Sufi mosque and an orphanage. The compounded also included a separate building (ribat) for women.
The complex […] consists of two structures: the larger one […] includes a […] madrasa, adar al-Hadith (school of Hadith or Tradition), a khanqah, and amaktab aytam (school for orphans). The other structure was built as a ribat (hospice) for women, […] on the opposite side of the plaza. […] The khanqah is built on a second floor and is divided into two parts: the cells of the Sufis [and] the main unit
during the nineteenth century, the building was taken over for the town's lawcourt (al-maḥkama al-sharʿiyya). And so it remained during the early days of the British Mandate until it became the residence of the head of the Supreme Muslim Council, Amīn al-Ḥusaynī.
Ce bel édifice offre l'exemple le plus parfait et le mieux conservé d'une madrasa sur plan cruciforme du type de Jérusalem [… p. 256:] l'édifice entier […] respire une telle harmonie qu on peut le considérer comme un exemple classique du plan cruciforme à Jérusalem
The "hanging madrasa" theme was introduced for the first time on top of the Haram portico […] in [Tankiz's] foundation at Bab al-Silsila (1328-29) as a response too the exigencies of the site and the dearth of land. (p. 95)
Endowed in 730/1330. Women's hospice founded by Tankiz al-Nasiri. Modern name not known (photographer's shop and studio) […] Opposite the Tankiziyya, on the north and west sides of the square in front ofBāb al-Silsila/Bāb as-Sakīna.
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