Sultan al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Barsbay ruled from 1422 to 1438 CE, a relatively long reign for the standards of the Mamluk period in Egypt.

[2] He apparently had a reputation simultaneously for being greedy and bad-tempered but also for being generous to the poor and to Sufis (the latter tendency being evident in this mausoleum and khanqah complex).

[4] This funerary complex includes Barsbay's own royal mausoleum, to which is attached a mosque and prayer hall to the south which is accessed from the street through an entrance portal and vestibule.

[1] The interior's most remarkable feature is the rich and varied multi-coloured marble mosaic pavement which covers the floors (although often obscured under the mosque's carpeting) and even appears on the windowsills.

[3] By contast, the walls and the mihrab (niche symbolizing the direction of prayer) are very plain; something seemingly common to Sufi khanqahs but not to regular mosques of the time.

Along with some of the adjacent tombs in this mausoleum complex (see below), this is the first example of such a geometric pattern carved into the stone domes of Cairo or of Mamluk architecture, marking an important evolution from the earlier, simpler "chevron" or zig-zag patterns found on the nearby Mausoleums of Faraj ibn Barquq or on the dome of Barsbay's own earlier Madrasa-Mausoleum in the center of Cairo.

[1] On the eastern side of these main structures is a musalla (open area for Islamic funerals), and all around this is a cemetery with tombs and several smaller mausoleums belonging to Barsbay's family members and favourite amirs.

[4] The one a little further away, now standing against the eastern wall of the cemetery, consists of a dome raised on top of a structure with open arches and is dedicated to Barsbay's brother Yashbak.

[4] The dome of the tomb furthest to the north belongs to an amir called Gani Bak al-Ashrafi, who built his own madrasa complex in the city but who was beloved of Barsbay and buried here instead.

[4] Further south from here, on the same side of the street but surrounded by modern buildings, is an anonymous tomb which is thought to belong to Barsbay's mother, known as Khadija Umm al-Ashraf, possibly dating to 1440.

[4][1] While the focus of the complex was the sultan's mausoleum, the attached structures were designed to offer services to a small group of Sufis, a function that was common to many Mamluk funerary establishments in Cairo's cemeteries.