Al-Hakim Mosque History
Al-Hakim Mosque, built outside the city walls in 990 by Caliph Al-Aziz, was initially known as Al-Anwar, which means “shining,” a term associated with the symbolism of light, which is notable. In Shiite philosophy is Al-Azhar, which means “glorious.”
Much later, The mosque named Al-Hakim in homage to the essential works carried out in the building by this Caliph.
Although the historian Maqrîzî provides evidence for these periods, inscriptions on the minarets and the main entrance give more evidence for al-construction.
Al Hakim Mosque located in EL Muizz Street within the Badr al-Jamali wall, built between 1087 and 1092. The wall runs along the northeastern border of the city and contains the tower on the north side of the mosque.
Al Hakim Mosque Architecture
The mosque is in the form of an irregular rectangle, built according to Arab designs similar to the methods of Ibn Tulun Mosque and Al-Azhar Mosque, which were built centuries before him.
An arcade surrounds the outdoor patio, creating a welcoming atmosphere.
The minarets located in the north and west corner of the mosque. It built of stone, unlike the rest of the mosque, including the front.
They are of distinct shapes: a circular shaft resting on a parallelepiped base and an octagonal shaft rising from a raised floor with a square cross-section.
However, in 1010, for unclear reasons, the wise Caliph ordered them to erect a square fence around the structure, effectively concealing the original works.
Baibars Jashnir rebuilt the minarets after being destroyed by an earthquake in 1303, erecting octagonal brick kiosks at the top of each minaret, each with shell niches and a row of small muqarnas superimposed above each kiosk and a small ribbed dome above each kiosk.
The mosque originally had eleven gates, a large number reminiscent of mosques in Samarra at construction. According to the Great Mosque of Mahdia (910, Tunisia), the most important is the mosque built of stone and located in the center of the main facade, flanked by two staircases that lead to a vaulted tunnel leading to the courtyard.
A prominent portico, decorated with carved niches and squares on its tip, evokes the Kairouan Mosque (9th century Tunisia), still in the Fatimids (Al-Aqmar Mosque), built during the Mamluk era at the time of construction (Baybars Mosque).
When used in the courtyard and the prayer hall, pointed arches supported by rectangular columns are sometimes limited to queues at the entrance to the pavilion, as in the Ibn Tulun Mosque, and at other times are used throughout the building.
Al Hakim Mosque at Cairo
The old mihrab remained intact except for two side pillars. It preceded by a dome that reconstructed in the Mamluk era. The other two crowns placed in the corners of the prayer hall lost over time (Al-Azhar may have provided this peculiarity, which found in the Maghreb).
The mosque’s interior is a treasure trove of color and texture. Many Qur’anic inscriptions from the reign of Al-Hakim are in stylized Kufic script. We may discover examples of this line in several locations, including Spain, Iran, and Anatolia, on different dates.
Many stylized botanical themes (flowers, palm fronds, or more complex compositions) and geometric motifs (squares on edge, stars with five or six branches, interlocking …) can also see.
The carved wooden tie bars running between the arches of the prayer hall refer to the C style of Samarra (Iraq), which had already come to Egypt during the Tulunid Dynasty.
The merlons that surrounded the mosque’s outer walls are inspired by Ibn Tulun, as are the bulging column capitals inspired by certain paintings from Samarra.
The Al-Hakim Mosque was undoubtedly a model for the Mamluk era, especially during Baibars and Muhammad bin Qalin on the model of the Al-Azhar Mosque.
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