Damascus, Syria
Coordinates: 33.510200, 36.303500
Madrasa Nuriya al-Kubra is a funerary madrasa in Damascus, Syria.
It is in the Suq al-Khayattin, inside the city walls.
It was built in 1167 by Hz. Nur ad-Din Zangi رحمة الله عليه, Atabeg of Syria, who is buried there.
The complex includes a mosque, a madrasa, and the mausoleum of the founder.
It was the first such complex to be built in Damascus.
The tomb-madrasa complex has two domes, first and the taller one is the oldest of the two and is over the tomb of Nur al-Din Zangi and the second, smaller muqarnas dome, similar to the dome of Hz. Nur ad-Din Zangi’s رحمة الله عليه mausoleum belongs to the tomb of governor of Damascus Amir Djamal al-Din.
The well-known Andalusian geographer and traveler Ibn Jubayr once described it as: “It is one of the most beautiful schools in the world, It is an elegant huge building with water works inside leading into a narrow stream flowing into a beautiful well in the midst of the inner yard in an amazing way to the beholder”.
