Sultan Hassan Mosque

About Sultan Hassan Mosque

Mosque in Egypt

The Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hasan is one of the greatest monuments of Islamic Cairo, described as the pearl of Islamic architecture in the East and the most harmonious of the city's monuments, marking the maturity of Mamluk architecture. Sultan al-Nasir Hasan, son of al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun, built it between 1356 and 1363 during the Bahri Mamluk period on the site of the former horse market, demolishing the palace of Amir Yalbugha al-Yahyawi to make room. It stands in Salah al-Din (Rumayla) Square in the Khalifa district below the Citadel, facing the al-Rifa'i Mosque, which was built some five and a half centuries later as its counterpart. The building combines a mosque with a madrasa for the four Sunni schools of law, Shafi'i, Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali, each with its own college in a corner of the courtyard; Qur'anic exegesis, hadith and the seven readings were also taught here, and two schools for orphans taught Qur'an memorisation and calligraphy. The towering entrance portal with its carved stone decoration, the open courtyard with its domed ablution fountain, the four immense iwans and the mausoleum dome behind the qibla iwan are among the finest achievements of Mamluk architecture, and the mosque is one of the largest in Egypt and the Arab world. Other historic mosques ring the square, including al-Mahmudiyya, Qanibay al-Rammah and Gawhar al-Lala, with the Citadel and the Muhammad Ali Mosque rising above.

Where:

Cairo, Egypt