It is among the very interesting mosques in Egypt. it stands proudly in the
highest point inside the courtyard of Saladin Citadel.
It is also called the Alabaster Mosque. The architect was Yousf Boushnaq, a
Turkish man who came especially from Istanbul and built this great mosque for
Mohamed Ali, the ruler of Egypt (1805-1849). He made the plan according to the
model of Sultan Ahamed Mosque at Istanbul. The works of construction began in
1830 A.D and continued ceaselessly till the death of Mohamed Ali, in 1849 who
was buried in the tomb situated on the southern-east side of Beit Al Salah, to
the right hand side of the entrance which leads to the main section.
In fact when the founder
died the mosque was not totally completed. So some works were achieved during
the reigns of his successors. In 1899 the mosque showed signs of cracking and
repairs were undertaken but some of these works were not adequate. So, exactly
in 1931 during the reign of king Fouad, a committee of some great architects was
formed and presented a report consulting the demolition of the big main dome,
the semi domes and the small domes and to be reconstructed according to the
original design. Therefore, between 1931 till 1939 works of demolition,
rebuilding, painting and gilding were continued and the total cost was 100, 000
LE.
The main material is limestone, but the lower parts of the mosque and the
forecourt are faced to a height of 11.5 m. with alabaster.The mosque is
rectangular in shape and it consists of two sections:
The Eastern Section, the main section ( Beit al Salah ) and the Western Section
or the courtyard (the Sahn)
The Eastern Section
The Easter section is the part which is dedicated for the prayer. It is square
in shape, each side measure 41 m. It has a central dome (52m in height) resting
on four large arches, supported by massive piers. Surrounding the big central
dome there are four half domes while there are other four small domes covering
the corners.
The marble Mihrab is covered by a half-dome at the lower level. The domes are
pointed and covered with medallions and other motifs, the interior dome is
impressive because of its size and space and that is characteristic of Istanbul
mosques. There are 6 medallions around the dome include the name of Allah (god),
Mohamed, Abou Bakr, Omar, Othman, and Ali. They were called the Orthodox
Caliphs.
The mosque has 2 Minbars or
pulpits; the original one is the larger, it is made of wood decorated with
gilded ornaments, while the smaller one is of marble, it was gifted to the
mosque by king Farouk in 1939 A.D. Above the entrance is a grand gallery
supported on marble pillars with bronze balustrade. To the right of the entrance
is the tomb of Mohamed Ali. It is of white marble covered with floral motifs,
and pointed and gilded inscriptions. His body was transferred from Housh El
Basha to that place in 1857. The bronze grill of the tomb was provided by king
Abbas I (1849-1854).
The Western Section (The Courtyard or the Sahn)
It is a large open courtyard of about 54 m. in length and 53 m. in width. It is
surrounded by a single arched riwaqs or naves raised on pillars and roofed with
small domes.
In the middle of the courtyard (the Sahn) is the ablution fountain, it is
octagonal in shape and covered by a large leaded domed canopy resting on 8
pillars with natural ornaments. Inside the dome is another marble small dome and
it is octagonal in shape, decorated with floral motifs. In the walls of the
riwaqs of the courtyard there are 46 widows. While the Eastern wall which
overlooks the Eastern Section has 8 windows above which there is a frieze of
inscription of the Koran (Surat Al Fath), and that frieze above the entrance to
the Easter section is the name of the Turkish sultan Abd Al Maguid. Opposite to
the doorway of the prayer House, in the S.W at the far end of the center of the
NW Riwaq is a pavilion, above which is an elaborate French Clock, presented to
Mohamed Ali in 1845 by the King Luis Philip in exchange of the obelisk which is
now standing in the Concorde square in Paris. This clock has never been working
properly!
At the west and the North Corners are 2 slender octagonal minarets that rise to
82 M in height. And has with 2 balconies.
