Bimaristan of Nur al-Din
Date:
1154,
1242
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Syria
Description:
Bimaristan is the Arabic term for a hospital. The bimaristan of Nur al-Din, the oldest extant Muslim hospital, was built in 1154 in Damascus, near the Great Mosque, by the Zangid sultan Nur al-Din (r. 1146–74; the Sunni Zengids were originally part of the Seljuq Empire and ultimately outlasted it). The hospital also had a medical school. The complex was enlarged in 1242 by a doctor, Badr al-Din, and it provided medical care in the Old City of Damascus until the twentieth century.
The twelfth-century stone structure has an ornate portal on the west facade, with copper-covered wooden doors below a pre-Islamic spolia pediment (the large stone blocks used for the lower walls are also spolia). Above the pediment is an elaborate muqarnas hood (a shallow half-vault). The multiroom entrance block is topped by a tall red-brick muqarnas vault dotted with dark glass. Beyond is a courtyard (20 × 15 m) with a central pool. There are iwans on all four sides of the courtyard, one with a mihrab. The largest iwan, opposite the entrance, has built-in bookcases and was used for medical lectures and studying. The marble revetment here is topped by an inscription containing excerpts from the Qur'an relevant to health and healing. The building's Arabic foundation inscription is incised on a marble table in this eastern iwan.
The spolia employed at the hospital likely came from the Roman temple of Jupiter nearby. It may have been reused in the bimaristan for aesthetic reasons or to allude to the Muslim appropriation of ancient achievements, especially medical knowledge. The Mamluk sultan Qala'un was cured at this hospital, in thanks for which he built the Qala'un complex in Cairo, which contained a hospital as well as a madrasa and mausoleum.
The twelfth-century stone structure has an ornate portal on the west facade, with copper-covered wooden doors below a pre-Islamic spolia pediment (the large stone blocks used for the lower walls are also spolia). Above the pediment is an elaborate muqarnas hood (a shallow half-vault). The multiroom entrance block is topped by a tall red-brick muqarnas vault dotted with dark glass. Beyond is a courtyard (20 × 15 m) with a central pool. There are iwans on all four sides of the courtyard, one with a mihrab. The largest iwan, opposite the entrance, has built-in bookcases and was used for medical lectures and studying. The marble revetment here is topped by an inscription containing excerpts from the Qur'an relevant to health and healing. The building's Arabic foundation inscription is incised on a marble table in this eastern iwan.
The spolia employed at the hospital likely came from the Roman temple of Jupiter nearby. It may have been reused in the bimaristan for aesthetic reasons or to allude to the Muslim appropriation of ancient achievements, especially medical knowledge. The Mamluk sultan Qala'un was cured at this hospital, in thanks for which he built the Qala'un complex in Cairo, which contained a hospital as well as a madrasa and mausoleum.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
7
Repository and Online Resources:
• Read more about the Nur al-Din bimaristan on the ArchNet website.
• See Ernst Herzfeld's twentieth-century drawings of the bimaristan here.
Image Credits:
Wikimedia Commons; Thomas J. Watson Library Digital Collections, Metropolitan Museum of Art
