The monumental gate Bab al-Qattanin that sits on the western border of the precinct of al-Haram al-Sharif ("The Noble Sacred Enclosure") leads to the splendid street market of Suq al-Qattanin "Market of the Cotton Merchants". The complex takes the traveler through a dark vaulted elongated space, with shops on either sides and two public baths (hammam). The market-street dramatically lit by skylight openings, leads from the Haram westward into the fabric of the old city of Jerusalem, ending at Tariq al-Wad street.
The Mamluk market, that according to Creswell was the finest bazaar in Greater Syria, was built by Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad in the 14th century to replace an older construction. Its main gate is one of the grandest of the Haram gates, built into the west portico of the Haram. The gate lies under a splendid muqarnas (stalactite) vault. It sits in a trefoil arch that is contained within a significantly larger recess. The larger recess is topped with a semi-dome supported by marvelous muqarnas pendentives, and surrounded by a slightly pointed arch of ablaq construction of alternating red and cream colored stones.
Sources:
Burgoyne, Michael Hamilton. Mamluk Jerusalem: An Architectural Study, 273-298. Jerusalem: British School of Archeology in Jerusalem, 1987.
Burgoyne, Michael Hamilton. "The Gates of the Haram al-Sharif." In Bayt al-Maqdis: Abd al-Malik Jerusalem, edited by Raby, Julian and Johns, Jeremy, 114. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
