The Madrasa al-Sultaniyya is located across from the citadel entrance. Construction was likely started during the reign of Ayyubid sultan al-Malik al-Zahir Ghazi who died in 1216/613 AH and was buried in the madrasa. The building was completed, however, during the reign his successor, al-Malik al-Aziz, under the supervision of the atabeg Shihab al-Din Tughril in 1223/620 AH.
The building is entered through a recessed, vaulted portal on its north side. The portal gives onto a shallow iwan that opens onto the complex's rectangular courtyard. Directly across the courtyard is the facade of the prayer hall, which is composed of three bays. The central bay before the mihrab is domed. Small cells open onto the courtyard from the western, eastern and northern sides.
A domed tomb chamber occupies the southeastern corner of the complex, and is accessible via the eastern bay of the prayer hall and a long, narrow corridor off the southeastern corner of the courtyard.
The Sultaniyya Madrasa was heavily damaged during the Syrian Civil War.1
Notes:
1. Syrian Arab Republic, Ministry of Culture, Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums. http://www.dgam.gov.sy/ [Accessed June 14, 2017].
Tabbaa, Yasser. Constructions of Power and Piety in Medieval Aleppo, 138-139. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997.
