ARCHiNOS has been working for more than eight years on various parts of the vast funerary complex that the illustrious sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbey built in 1470-74, but only now began conservation of the architectural masterpiece at the heart of the complex: the sultan’s mosque/madrasa and domed mausoleum. Following conservation of some objects inside, and extended preparatory stage, the work has just started on the building itself.

The work on the mosque is part of the larger project funded primarily by the European Union, and the conservation of the mausoleum, with its carved stone dome which is the crowning achievement of Mamluk-period art, is financed by a grant from the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation. The scaffolding is rising up and the conservators are ready to start treatment of a 550 years-old patient.