Sultan Abu Al-Nasr Sayf ad-Din Al-Ashraf Qaitbay was the eighteenth Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt from 872 to 901 A.H.. He was Circassian by birth, and was purchased by the ninth sultan Barsbay before being freed by the eleventh Sultan Jaqmaq. During his reign, he stabilized the Mamluk state and economy, consolidated the northern boundaries of the Sultanate with the Ottoman Empire, engaged in trade with other contemporaneous polities, and emerged as a great patron of art and architecture. In fact, although Qaitbay fought sixteen military campaigns, he is best remembered for the spectacular building projects that he sponsored, leaving his mark as an architectural patron on Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, Damascus, Aleppo, Alexandria, and every quarter of Cairo.
Mamluk Sultan Qaytbay ("Mag Caitbeivs Cairi Svltan") by Florentine painter Cristofano dell'Altissimo (16th century), Galleria degli Uffizi
Anonymous Venetian painting depicting the reception of Venetian ambassadors in Damascus. The wall in the background is decorated with Qaitbay's blazon.
Qait bey plate at Masjid al-Nabawi at Medina.
Citadel of Qaitbay in Alexandria.
The Burji Mamluks or Circassian Mamluks, sometimes referred to as the Burji dynasty, were the rulers of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt from 1382 until 1517. As with the preceding Bahri Mamluks, the members of the Burji Mamluk ruling class were purchased as slaves (mamluks) and manumitted, with the most powerful among them taking the role of sultan in Cairo. During this period, the ruling Mamluks were generally of Circassian origin, drawn from the Christian population of the northern Caucasus. The name Burji, meaning 'of the tower', refers to the traditional residence of these Mamluks in the barracks of the Citadel of Cairo.
The funerary complex of Sultan Barquq in Cairo, completed in 1386
Mamluk Sultan Qaytbay ("Mag Caitbeivs Cairi Svltan") by Florentine painter Cristofano dell'Altissimo (16th century), Galleria degli Uffizi
The Citadel of Qaitbay in Alexandria, completed in 1479