Qualla: Throne Hall of Dongola https://qualla.com/throne-hall-of-dongola en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:29 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/e/j/z/throne-hall-of-dongola-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Throne Hall of Dongola https://qualla.com/throne-hall-of-dongola Throne Hall of Dongola: Introduction https://qualla.com/throne-hall-of-dongola/ Photo credit Robert Hartmann, Public domain. On May 29, 1317, a Mamluk-installed prince named Abdallah Barshanbu knelt in the upper hall of a two-storey building on a rocky hill above Old Dongola and had the marble inscription carved that made his conversion official. For five centuries the room had been the Throne Hall of the Makurian kings - a Christian audience chamber whose walls showed the Virgin Mary lying beside a crib, angels, the three Magi approaching on horseback. The plasterers moved in behind the inscription. The paintings went under. A mihrab was cut into the wall. And the oldest mosque in Sudan began its six-century run in a building that had been built to host a different faith.

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Image: Robert Hartmann | Public domain

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/e/j/z/throne-hall-of-dongola-wp/sejz-throne-hall-of-dongola-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Throne Hall of Dongola: The Makurian Audience Room https://qualla.com/throne-hall-of-dongola/ Photo credit S. Jakobielski & St. Medeksza, CC BY-SA 3.0. Old Dongola was the capital of Makuria, the Nubian Christian kingdom that had stopped two Arab invasions in the seventh century and then settled into a long golden age between roughly 800 and 1100. In the ninth century, probably during the reign of King Georgios I and his father ...

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Image: S. Jakobielski & St. Medeksza | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/e/j/z/throne-hall-of-dongola-wp/sejz-throne-hall-of-dongola-the-makurian-audience-room.mp3 0:06 2 full Throne Hall of Dongola: A Byzantine Kingdom on the Nile https://qualla.com/throne-hall-of-dongola/ Photo credit S. Jakobielski & St. Medeksza, CC BY-SA 3.0. The architecture of the Throne Hall was a conscious choice: Byzantine. Makurian kings saw themselves as inheritors of the Christian tradition that ran from Constantinople, and they built accordingly. Very similar audience halls are known from the First Bulgarian Empire, which bor...

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Image: S. Jakobielski & St. Medeksza | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/e/j/z/throne-hall-of-dongola-wp/sejz-throne-hall-of-dongola-a-byzantine-kingdom-on-the-nile.mp3 0:06 3 full Throne Hall of Dongola: The Mamluks Arrive https://qualla.com/throne-hall-of-dongola/ Photo credit S. Jakobielski & St. Medeksza, CC BY-SA 3.0. From 1265, Makuria endured repeated invasions by the Mamluk sultanate in Cairo. From 1276 the Mamluks usually installed a puppet king on the Makurian throne. By the end of the thirteenth century, after yet another confrontation, the most prestigious buildings of Old Dongola inclu...

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Image: S. Jakobielski & St. Medeksza | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/e/j/z/throne-hall-of-dongola-wp/sejz-throne-hall-of-dongola-the-mamluks-arrive.mp3 0:06 4 full Throne Hall of Dongola: A Mosque for Six Centuries https://qualla.com/throne-hall-of-dongola/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. After Barshanbu's murder, Makuria continued for a while under both Muslim and Christian kings, none of whom dared to restore the Throne Hall's original function - the Mamluk sultans would not have allowed it. A civil war destroyed Old Dongola in 1365. The Makurian kings fled to L...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

]]> Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/e/j/z/throne-hall-of-dongola-wp/sejz-throne-hall-of-dongola-a-mosque-for-six-centuries.mp3 0:06 5 full