Sabil-Kuttab of Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda

The Sabil-Kuttab of Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda stands at the intersection of Al-Muizz and Tambakshiya streets and was built in 1744 CE by the Ottoman-era emir Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda al-Qazdagli. The lower sabil was a charitable public fountain supplying drinking water, while the upper kuttab functioned as a school where Muslim orphans were taught the Qur’an and prophetic traditions. Three street façades made the building unusually prominent in the urban fabric. Each sabil façade originally had a copper-grilled window with marble basins outside for drinking vessels. Inside, the walls preserve Ottoman ceramic tiles with floral motifs, Qur’anic inscriptions and imagery including a representation of the Great Mosque in Mecca. An inscription over the entrance records the founder and completion date, making the building an especially complete example of eighteenth-century charitable architecture in Cairo.