The interior of the Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha, also known as the Alabaster Mosque from panels that were originally on the walls
Hatim Ibn Hartama, the governor of Cairo in 810, built a pavilion on the area where the Citadel now stands for the fine views and the breeze. It was converted for defence against the Crusaders in 1176-83 by Salah al-Din, the Ayyubid ruler. The Citadel sits on a spur of the Mokattam Hills, which is now detached from the main hills due to quarrying.
Tour Egypt has a good account of the Citadel.
Mosques (of which there are four) and palaces occupy the citadel; today the latter act as museums. Between these buildings lie promenades and viewpoints which take in the prospect of the city laid out below. This page has some pictures of the two biggest mosques: Al-Nasir Muhammad, and Muhammad Ali, dating respectively from 1318-55 and 1830-48.
South corner of the Mosque
The open area in front of the Great Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha with the two slender minarets
The colonnade on the main front
The grilles on the windows (and the balustrades) are metal. Older ones were often made of tile and stone,
for example in Isfahan
Domes, and a minaret which stands 80 metres high but only 3 wide
The mosque was built during Ottoman administration of Egypt, which did not finish until 1867, and is in the style of the great mosques of that Empire. The main entrance to the mosque is from this coutyard
The ablutions fountain has a wooden roof, and stands in the courtyard surrounded by arcades which form a peristylar (columned) cloister - small domes adorn this walkway
The delightful circles of hanging lamps that are suspended in the 52 metre high space
The main doorway
The richly decorated inside of the main dome, with four semi-circular domes forming a square
It is claimed that the Giza Pyramids can be seen from this viewpoint on the Citadel. Such pellucid days, with a view of 10 miles, will be rare
The plan of the Citadel, that greets visitors, showing the public buildings and walls
A variety of religious persuasions
Quiescent fountain and gazebo at the main viewpoint
How could I say no?
The austere street wall of the Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque
Doorway to the Mosque's courtyard
Women leaving the courtyard of the Al-Nasir Mosque
- about to put their shoes back on
The 10 pillars in the centre of the Mosque are reputed to have been taken from a pharaonic temple
Handles on the main door
The main dome and the only decoration on the walls - crenellations (crenels being the gaps originally created for defences)
The beautifully carved wooden minbar with inlayed and painted geometric patterns - either well restored, or miraculously persevered, from the 1300 date that is ascribed to it
The decorative marble walls were removed by Sultan Salim and taken to Istanbul in the early 1500s, they have since been restored
Crenellations, minaret and lamps of the Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque
The next page
has more sites of Cairo - the Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan, and the Mosque of Al-Rifai, as well as an irresistible glance at the Giza Pyramids, on the western edge of Cairo.
The last page was about the Makattam area of Cairo
To a temple in Vietnam
To a mosque in Isfahan
