Located on Bab al-Silsilah Road near al-Haram al-Sharif, the Khalidiyah Library is housed in the oldest Mameluke structure in the Old City. The Khalidiyah Library is the largest and one of the most important Islamic family libraries in the world today. The idea of opening the library to the public stems from the 1880s when Rajab al-Khalidi persuaded his mother to endow the collection.