It was established by Prince Mamay al-Sayfi in 901 AH/1496 AD; He is one of the Mamluk princes who lived through the rule of Sultan Qaitbay (872-901 AH/ 1467-1495 AD), and his son Al-Nasir Muhammad (901-903 AH / 1495-1497 AD). Mamay held the position of the gamadar , who was responsible for the sultan’s clothes, and then he assumed the position of cupbearer, as appeared in his special ranks or emblems (the bukja rank and the cup rank) on the arches of the façade and the main entrance to his famous maq’ad (loggia).
It was also known as the maq’ad of the judge's house, as the judge and the legal court took it as a headquarter in the Ottoman era. We can infer from architectural evidence that the maq’ad was originally part of Prince Mamay's palace, but only the maq’ad remains, which grandeur and large size indicate the grandeur and breadth of the palace itself.
Prince Mamay's maq’ad has a distinctive architectural design, where the main entrance is flanked on the right side by a storehouse which is an opening with a pointed arch, and on the left side we find three similar storehouses, this part is surmounted by a raw of five arches crowned by a wooden flap. The main entrance leads to a lobby leading to the main summer hall of the maq’ad, it is a rectangular hall with a beautiful wooden ceiling of wooden beams with gilded and colourful decorations, and below there is it a wooden frieze decorated with inscriptional motifs.
The maq’ad of Mamay al-Sayfi underwent its first restoration between 1901 and 1909 AD by the Committee for the Conservation of Arab Monuments, which aimed to repair the cielings and roof of the maq’ad. The Supreme Council of Antiquities also restored the maq’ad once again during the opening of the al-Mu‘izz Street monuments in 2010 AD. In 2018 AD, maintenance and restoration work for the maq’ad was completed within the framework of the national campaign launched by the Ministry of Antiquities in 2015 AD to save 100 archaeological buildings in historic Cairo.
