Beshtak Palace

Beshtak Palace is a rare fragment of Mamluk aristocratic grandeur standing directly on al-Muizz Street in the Bayn al-Qasrayn quarter, the ceremonial spine of medieval Cairo. It was built between 1334 and 1339 for Emir Sayf al-Din Bashtak al-Nasiri, a powerful and enormously wealthy commander who served Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad.

In its day the palace was legendary. Contemporary writers described a structure of five storeys supplied with running water on every floor, an extraordinary luxury for the fourteenth century. Only part of that complex survives, but the great reception hall, or qa'a, still soars through two levels beneath a lantern ceiling, its tall windows screened by carved wooden mashrabiya that overlook the busy street below.

The scale of the surviving room is the main draw. Sunlight drops from the raised central lantern onto a marble floor and a modest fountain, and the sheer height of the space conveys the ambition of Mamluk court architecture better than many better-known monuments nearby.

The palace is easy to combine with neighbouring sights such as the Qalawun complex and the house of Bayt al-Suhaymi, all within a short walk along the same historic thoroughfare. It is usually quiet, so it offers a welcome pause from the crowds around Khan el-Khalili. Entry is inexpensive, opening hours are daylight, and modest dress suits the surrounding religious district. Inside, notice the coloured marble panelling, the traces of original inlaid stone, and the way the raised lantern draws air and light down into the hall, an early example of the climate-conscious design that runs through Cairo's medieval houses. Look up as you climb the stairs to appreciate the painted and coffered ceilings, and step onto the screened balconies for one of the better street-level views of al-Muizz, a lane that UNESCO counts among the densest concentrations of Islamic architecture anywhere.