Tourist Trails The Mamluk Public Building

The Mamluk Public Building

This public building was constructed in 1297-98 at the northern end of the Ayyubid quarter. It was likely used as an external hearing room, intended for common citizens who could not be admitted to the Ayyubid reception hall. The facade, made of large leveled ashlars of organogenic limestone, presumably opened onto a plaza at that time.

The beautiful inscription repeats the text of the band running on the north semicircular tower, attributing the construction to the Mamluk Sultan Husam Al-Deen Lajin and recalling the supervisor of the restoration works of Shobak, the Emir Ala al-Din Qibris.