The Khalidi Library- Barkah Khan

The Khalidi Library is an impressive building in the Shalshelet St., built in 1246 and renovated in the 14^th century by the Mamelukes. The facade is decorated in the Mameluke style: a geometric guilloche on the window, and combinations of stones in different colors (“Ableq”). A pillow arch decorates the windows. On top of the windows there is an inscription dedicated to a person named Barkah Khan, a Central Asian ruler who was buried in the building next to his two sons. Today, the place houses the library of the respectful and well-known El Khalidi family, containing thousands of scripts and printed books, among them a 400-year-old Quran, and an original 1000-year old Hadith (a written collection of oral traditions). Along the Shalshelet St. you can see other buildings which were built during the Mameluke era, with beautiful decorations characteristic of these times: stone guilloches, wooden verandas, Muqarnas decorations etc. Further along the street towards the east are HaShalshelet gate, and the entrance gate to the Temple Mount, through which only Muslims can enter the compound. The names of the street and its gate originated in a Muslim tale about King David who used to sit under a dome and judge his subordinates in a just trial, using the help of a chain that was hung at the center of the dome. The accuser would reach out to catch the chain, and supposedly would succeed in grasping it only if he spoke the truth.