Bimaristan Arghun al-Kamili
البيمارستان الأرغوني
Mamluk hospital founded by Arghun al-Kamili in 14th-century Aleppo, famous for treating mental illness with water and music.
In old Aleppo, near Khan al-Jumruk lies the Bimaristan Arghun al-Kamili, one of the most celebrated historic hospitals of the Islamic world, founded in the mid-14th century by the Mamluk governor Arghun al-Kamili, who converted a large house into a hospital.
Its construction is dated to 1354 (755 AH) under Sultan al-Salih Ismail ibn Muhammad ibn Qalawun, according to the inscription on its great gate; one of its two doors faces Khan al-Qadi.
It is renowned for its care of the mentally ill at a time when many societies treated them harshly; scholars describe calming therapies using quiet, running water in fountains, music and pleasant scents.
The plan serves this purpose: a main courtyard with a pool leads through corridors to smaller octagonal courts ringed by patients' cells, lit and aired through openings in the domes, behind a carved muqarnas portal. Long in use, it later became a museum of medicine and science. Part of the Ancient City of Aleppo World Heritage property.
Note: photos may not reflect the site's current condition.
For the visitor
Location: 36.1967, 37.1569 · Open on the map
Photos: Bernard Gagnon — via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)
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