Daraa-Sana
The Manjk al-Yousifi bath constitutes the highest level of architectural achievements in the Mamluk era, and its construction by the Mamluk Sultan Brigades is considered a development of public facilities in Busra and a reconstruction of the pilgrimage road leading to the two holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.
Head of the Department of Antiquities of Bosra al-Sham, Alaa al-Salah, stated in a statement to SANA that the building of the hammam is evidence of the high level that Islamic civilization reached during the Middle Ages, indicating that the hammam with the adjacent Omari mosque in the center of the city is a sign of the transition of Bosra from an ancient classical capital to an Islamic city. He explained that this bathroom was characterized by the use of the complex vaulting system that was used in the facilities of the Ayyubids, whose construction depended on the architecture used in Damascus.
Al-Salah continued: The system for building the transition area of the dome covering the reception room consists of corner bends, and several lower rows of them still remain. It is, in fact, one of the characteristics of Mamluk architecture in Damascus, which was known in a few examples dating back to a period extending from the eighth century AH. The fourteenth century AD to the beginning of the ninth century AH - the fifteenth century AD,” indicating that the plan of the bathing pavilion, which contains a central room with ten sides, is known only in a few bath buildings in Damascus dating back to the same period.
Despite the destruction caused by the Mongols in Bosra in the year 658-1260, the city regained its former importance. After the restoration of the castle by the Mamluk Sultan Al-Zahir Baybars, the city lived during the Mamluk rule, a period of calm and economic prosperity that ended with the Ottoman occupation.
And he indicated that the existence of pre-constructed religious buildings did not necessitate the implementation of new urban projects, except for adding a minaret to the Fatima Mosque, and seven decades later, the Menjk Bath was praised by the deputy of Syria and Damascus, Manjk al-Yousifi. It was opened in 1372-773, and it is considered a wonderful example of medieval architecture.
In the year 1981, the bathroom was discovered and excavated, and restoration operations were carried out for some of its parts within the framework of a joint cooperation project between the Bosra Antiquities Department and the German Institute of Archeology in Damascus, to return the bathroom to its previous state.
Al-Salah pointed out that the bathroom is based on a plot of land of 45 times 14 meters, which was sufficient for the construction of the various internal bathroom sections, explaining that the bathroom has 18 places for showering on which cold and hot water is distributed, pointing out that in the ground there are passages that transport hot air from the ignition rooms. The “furnace” to the chimney that stood in the north wall of the reception rooms.
He said: These passages work during the passage process to heat the shower rooms, while the bathroom floor is covered with slabs of stones of different colors and marble pieces of different formations, sizes and colors.
Qassem Al-Miqdad
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