May 3, 20207 min read

Sultan Hassan Complex

The Sultan Hassan Mosque was an Islamic madrasah or school in its origins. Later, it became one of the largest, most important and most beautiful mosques in the Islamic world. However, it was not always so well considered, since during its construction a minaret collapsed and killed more than three thousand people, which was considered a bad omen. Discover more about the historical mosque with Cairo Top Tours!

It combined the magnitude of the building, the accuracy of the industry, and the diversity of the decoration, so it deserved to be described as a pure architectural masterpiece, which is the Sultan Hassan Mosque in the Citadel area in ancient Egypt, which is a pride of ancient Islamic architecture. It was said about the monumental mosque by”Gomar” in a book describing Egypt: “It is one of the most beautiful The buildings of Cairo and Islam, and it deserves to be in the first rank of Arab architecture thanks to its high dome, the height of its minaret, the bone of its breadth and the luxury and abundance of its decoration. Al-Maqrizi described it as “one of the Muslim temples is not known in Islam This imitates the mosque. “ Mosque of Sultan Hassan is counted as one of the most comprehensive mosques things to do in Cairo or maybe in the entire world and especially in Islamic Cairo, measuring 150m in length and covering an area of 7,906 sq m. Its walls rise to 36m high and its tallest minaret is 68m. Visitors can enter the complex through a tall portal that is a work of exceptional art. A dark and relatively low-ceilinged passageway leads to the brightly shine, a standard cruciform-plan open courtyard. The centers of the courtyard on a domed ablutions fountain, which was probably an Ottoman addition. Soaring on four sides of the patio are round iwans (sitting rooms), maintained by hanging lamp chains and red-and-black rims. The famous Mamluk Sultan Hassan who founded (The Mosque of Sultan Hassan), is the son of the great Mamluk Sultan Al-Nasser Mohamed Ibn Qalawoun. He ruled two interrupted reigns, the first time in 1347, when he was 13 years old, to be dethroned by the other Mamluk princes and generals. The second time was in 1356A.D, and before he had time to put an end to the power of the princes and high officials, they made a revolution against him. It said that he escaped from the Citadel of Salah Eldin but he was found and imprisoned, never to be seen again. Most seemingly he was killed 16 years after his ascension to the throne. He left 10 sons and 6 daughters behind.

The mosque was built on the system of schools with orthogonal planning, and each school is considered a small mosque, and each of them is dedicated to teaching one of the four Islamic schools, “Shafi’i, Maliki, Hanbali, and Hanafi”, the largest of these Hanafi schools. Twenty applicants and three teaching assistants, and each of them was assigned a salary according to their job. He appointed a teacher to interpret the Qur’an and with him thirty students. He also appointed a teacher for the hadith of the Prophet, and he was allocated a salary of 300 dirhams.

As typical in the Mamluk style of architecture planning, the qibla iwan is the largest of the 4 iwans inside the Mosque. Which is made out of marble and known as the bench of the repeater, located in front of the qibla iwan is (Dekkat Al-Mouballegh), raised above 8 pillars and 3 piers. Behind the mihrab, there are 2 doors opened in the Quibla wall leading to a mausoleum dome where the Sultan is rumored to be buried. The Mausoleum roof is 21 square meters and its decoration is similar to that of the qibla iwan.

Sultan Hassan Complex

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