The structure was built as a Muslim school in 1328-1329 by the emir Tankiz en-Natsari, the governor of Damascus. Mujir ed-Din (1495) records: "It was made a waqf (Muslim charitable endowment) by the emir Tankiz en-Natsari, ruler of Syria.
It is an enormous school that surpasses all others in its wealth...
It has an assembly hall above the western colonnade of the Haram esh-Sharif
[Noble Sanctuary = Temple Mount]".
The building consists of a central hall and four side rooms. In the Mameluke period it served as a council chamber for sages and a court. Mameluke sultans who visited Jerusalem used to lodge there. |
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