User:Huldra/Tunshuk Palace



Tunshuk Palace (دار الست طنشق)  was  built for a Mamluk lady, Tunshuk,  around 1398, in Jerusalem.

Location
Tunshuk Palace is located west of Haram esh-Sharif, on the south side of the ‘Aqabat al-Takiyya street, while the turba (mausoleum)  for Lady Tunshuk is across the street. The ‘Aqabat al-Takiyya leads to the Council Gate, and the Palace is located sufficiently high to have had a clear view over the Dome of the Rock.

Foundress
The identity of the family of Lady Tunshuk is unknown, but it has been suggested that she was related to the Muzaffarids.

According to Mujir al-Din, she was already living in Jerusalem in 794/1391, and was close to the Qalandariyya. Through her agents she had first bought 1/3 and then 1/4 of Beit Safafa, for a total of 100,100 dirhams. She had made her property a waqf, which benefits passed after her death to Amir  Baha’al-Din b. ‘Abdallah, the majordomo of Al-Manjakiyya. Tunshuk died in 1398 and was buried in the mausoleum she had prepared across the street from the her palace.

Architecture


There are four entrances facing the ‘Aqabat al-Takiyya street, of which only the three western ones belong to the Tunshuk Palace. The eastern most entrance was built later, in the 16th century for the Haseki Sultan Imaret, and it opens up to a yard, called the Eastern yard, belonging to this imaret.

The Eastern portal for the Tunshuk Palace is the most imposing, built of red and cream-coloured ablaq stones. At the top are four levels of muqarna stalactites, surrounded by a black, red and cream-coloured voussoir. At the centre of rear wall of this portal is a square lime−stone, carved to have an inlay of black stone, red and green glass, and possibly turquoise faience, and with an oculus in the centre. The inlay are presently all missing, but were present at the end of the 19th century. The portal is now blocked, but used to lead to a long, narrow row of rooms.

The Western portal, now also blocked, has an ogee moulding, which frame red and cream-coloured ablaq masonry. It has an Arabic inscription, unfortunately with no historical information, instead it cites the Basmala and verses 46-55 of sura xv  of the Koran.

History
Around 1815, the envoy William Turner still found it to be a working imaret. Turner, imagining that he saw the remains of the kitchen of Helena, noted: "It is still used by the Turks for the purpose for which it was originally instituted, being a kitchen endowed by the Sultan for the benefit of the poor, and of Turkish travellers. The Turks have divided it into several apartments, of which some are ovens, some stables; and above they have built a mosque and a bath. [] In the kitchen (which has a small dome, supported by four square  clumsy columns), are some of the original caldrons of Helena; of which one of the largest that I measured was fifty inches round, and thirty−three inches deep. A mituclee (superintendent) is  sometimes sent from Constantinople, to honour a distinguished visitor here; and he has residence in the kitchen, and takes care that the guest be well provided from it: In this case the poor are neglected, as the fund is eaten up by the numerous attendants that always accompany a distinguished Turk."

In 1838, it was noted that part of the revenue from Beit Jala went to this institution.