A caravan beside the Mosque of Sultan al-Zahir Barquq

The Mosque of Sultan al-Zahir Barquq includes a madrasa or Islamic seminary and a Sufi khanqah within its precincts. It was built between 1384 and 1386 CE. The architect Shihab al Din Ahmad ibn Muhammad al Tuluni, who belonged to a family of court architects and surveyors, was in charge of part of the construction. The name of Jarkas al Khalili, the master of Barquq's horse and the founder of the famous Khan al Khalili, appears in the inauguration inscription on the façade and in the courtyard.
Pascal Xavier Coste was a French architect. His father was one of the leading joiners in Marseille. Showing intellectual and artistic promise, Pascal began his studies in the studio of Penchaud, architect of the departement and the municipalite. In 1814, he was received into the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His time in Paris was a pivotal one in his life - there he met the geographer Edme François Jomard, who put him in touch with the viceroy of Egypt, Mehmet Ali, who took Coste on as his architect in 1817.