Mustansiriya Madrasah, Medieval school building in Al Rasheed, Iraq.
The Mustansiriya Madrasah is a medieval school building in Baghdad constructed along the Tigris River with two stories, multiple courtyards, and classrooms arranged in a connected layout. The structure includes residential quarters for students alongside dedicated teaching spaces designed for different subjects.
The school was founded in 1227 by Caliph Al-Mustansir as a major educational institution in Baghdad. Though the Mongol invasions of the 1250s threatened the city, the madrasah endured and continued operating for centuries afterward.
The school brought together scholars from four different Islamic legal traditions, making it a place where different interpretations were studied side by side. Visitors can still observe the separate areas designed for Quranic study and medical training.
Visiting the site is best done with a guided tour to understand the layout and purpose of each room and courtyard clearly. Plan to spend time exploring both the upper and lower floors to appreciate the full structure.
The on-site library once held roughly 80,000 volumes, making it one of the largest medieval Islamic manuscript collections anywhere. This enormous collection of texts drew scholars from distant places who traveled specifically to study rare works.
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