Photograph of the Damascus Mahmal

Dimensions: 35.6 x 28 cm

Accession Number: ARC.pp 166

Script:

The tradition of sending a mahmal with the pilgrim caravans was continued by the Ottomans after their conquest of Egypt. The ‘Damascus’ mahmal symbolized the authority of the Ottoman sultans in Istanbul in the same way as the mahmal that travelled from Cairo (see TXT 289 and TXT 442).