The Waqf of Nûrî Bimaristan in Aleppo in the Mid-16th Century

Abstract

Aleppo, one of the most important industrial and commercial centres of the Middle East, has been home to many civilisations, and especially during Zangid, Ayyubid, Mamluk and Ottoman periods, many waqf works were built in the city and offered to the public. One of these buildings, the Bimaristan of Nūrī, was built by Nūr al-Dīn Mahmud, one of the Zangid rulers in Aleppo. This hospital was known as the Bimaristan of Nurī or the Bimaristan of Nūr al-Dīn Şehīd in relation to its founder, and it was also known as “Bīmāristan-ı ‘Atīq” because a second bimaristan named Ergûn Kâmil was built in the city later. In this waqf bimaristan in Aleppo, patients were treated free of charge and their medicines were provided from the waqf budget. In this distinguished health institution, where mental patients were also treated, many physicians were trained in order to meet the need for future physicians.
 In this study, after providing information about bimaristans in general, the Bimaristan of Nūrī and its founder Nūr al-Dīn Zangi, the waqf assets of the Bimaristan of Nūrī and their income amounts in the Mid-16th century, the waqf and hospital staff, their salaries and other expense items of the waqf are emphasised. The main sources of this study, which aims to reveal the importance of bimaristans in general and the Bimaristan of Nūrī in Aleppo in particular in terms of the history of medicine and architecture and its operating model, are the Aleppo awqaf registers in various funds with waqfs records in the Ottoman Archives of the Presidency of State Archives.