Muhammad Ali Mosque

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Alabaster mosque
large dome

The Muhammad Ali Mosque ( Arabic مسجد محمد علي Masjid Muhammad ʿAlī '  Mosque of Mohammed Ali'), sometimes referred to as the Alabaster Mosque, is one of the major mosques in Cairo . It was built by order of Pasha Muhammad Ali between 1824 and 1884 in the Ottoman style with baroque elements. The Greek Boşnak Yusuf from Istanbul was responsible for the construction, whostylistically based himself on the New Mosque (Turkish: Yeni Cami ) there.

The mosque is located in the Citadel of Cairo , where parts of the building that were destroyed after a powder explosion in 1824 were replaced by the mosque.

The two minarets are 82 meters high, the large dome is 52 meters high. In front of the entrance there is a large courtyard, in the middle of which there is a purification well ( hanafiyya ). The courtyard is surrounded by arcades . The interior has alabaster-clad walls, from which the mosque owes its colloquial name.

Prayer room

Inside, the large gold-adorned main dome , some of which has Kor claims , is 21 meters in diameter and is joined by four smaller domes in the corners and four semi-domes on the sides.

The floor is covered with thick red carpets. As in many mosques, the interior is illuminated by electric lights arranged in a circle; the traditional oil lamps are now in the museum. The prayer room has two richly decorated pulpits ( minbar ).

To the right of the entrance is the grave of Muhammad Ali, who died in 1849, many years before the mosque was completed.

On the west side of the courtyard there is, stylistically, a break, a clock tower , a gift from the French King Louis-Philippe I from 1846 as thanks for the obelisk of Luxor , which today stands in Paris on Place de la Concorde . However, the clock never worked.

Others

The mosque can be visited outside of the times of prayer, also by non-Muslims, but only without shoes, which must be left at the entrance, and in appropriate clothing. Should the clothing not be sufficient, a cape is given at the entrance.

The southeast view of the Muhammad Ali Mosque is depicted on the front of the Egyptian £ 20 banknote.

literature

  • Mohammad Al-Asad: The Mosque of Muhammad ʿAli in Cairo . In: Muqarnas, Vol. 9, 1992, pp. 39-55

Web links

Commons : Mohammad Ali Mosque  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 30 ° 1 ′ 43.5 ″  N , 31 ° 15 ′ 35.7 ″  E