Bab Zuwayla
[1] A new vaulted space was carved out inside the gate's structure in order to accommodate a secondary entrance to the mosque and to house a library (kitabkhana).
[4]: 205–206 The next major changes to the area occurred around 1650 when Radwan Bey constructed a market street (today's al-Khayyamiyya) and a palatial complex just south of the gate.
Sometime between 1860 and 1875, the tops of the minarets collapsed, while in 1880 a flat stone lintel beneath the arch of the gateway was destroyed in order to make room for the mahmal procession.
During this work, the base of the gate and its doors were excavated,[1] as the ground level has risen nearly two metres since the Fatimid period.
[1] One such occurrence was in 1260, when the Mongol leader Hulagu was preparing to attack Egypt and sent six messengers to the Mamluk ruler Qutuz in Cairo, demanding his surrender.
[9] In the early Mamluk period, sultans would sit on the platform above the gate to watch the procession carrying the mahmal (ceremonial palanquin) as part of the annual pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca.
[1] On a daily basis, drummers would also be positioned on this platform and would play their drums whenever an important Mamluk amir (commander) entered the city.
[1][4]: 206 They would hang hair, a piece of clothing, or some other item on the doors of the gate in order to supplicate for Mitwali's assistance against sickness.
[1] The gate's design resembles Bab al-Futuh to the north, consisting of two semi-circular bastion towers with an arched passage between them, built in stone.
Such arches existed in western Islamic architecture and may reflect the influence of North African craftsmen that the Fatimids brought east with them when they took over Egypt.
[1] The former lintel of the gate's archway, rediscovered during the restoration works of 1999–2003, was a spoliated stone block from the Pharaonic era, originally from the Temple of On in Heliopolis.
[4]: 204 On the east side of the passage (on the right when entering the city) is a large niche covered by a semi-dome with two decorative squinches carved with shell motifs.
On the west side is a large opening with an iron grille and a muqarnas cornice above, which dates to the modifications made under Mamluk sultan al-Mu'ayyad.
The design of the gate, and of Badr al-Jamali's fortifications in general, appears to come from Byzantine and/or northern Syrian influences.
