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Mosque of Ibn Tulun

Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun

The Mosque of Ibn Tulun is one of the largest and oldest in Egypt. It was built between the years 876 and 879 AD by an Abbasid governor sent to Baghdad from Egypt. Called the “Friday mosque”, its courtyard in an open arch is large enough to hold the entire male community gathered for prayers on the holiest day of the week.

Built entirely of clay bricks, the mosque is surrounded by an external courtyard, designed to keep the uninitiated at bay. This courtyard and its curious spiral minaret make the mosque one of a kind in all of Egypt.

The boundary wall together with the relative walkway should have ensured a respectful distance of the adjacencies from the place of worship, but this was not necessarily the reality of the crowded medieval Cairo dedicated to trading.

For much of its history, the external walkway of Ibn Tulun was occupied by a bazaar: shops and stables were not cleared until the 19th century.

In order not to dirty the carpets on which the faithful kneel to pray, cloth slippers are provided to be worn over the shoes (for which you are required to offer a tip). The plan of the mosque is almost square. The central courtyard, very spacious, is surrounded on four sides by shading arches.

Three of these are two bays deep and the fourth, facing Mecca, with five bays, serves as a prayer room. The decorative motifs of the small windows that adorn the rear walls of the aisles are said to be of a variety that does not present repetitions.

The minaret can be reached from the external passage. From the small compartment located at its top, you can enjoy an excellent view of the mosque below, as well as a panorama that goes from the minarets of the Sultan Hassan mosque to the typical profile of the Mohammed Ali mosque in the citadel.

As interesting as the Ibn Tulun mosque, if not more, is the nearby Gayer Anderson Museum founded in 1937 by two ancient local residences, the Beit el-Kiridiliya of 1632 and the Beit Amna Bent Salim of 1540.

It can be reached from the external courtyard, immediately to the left of the mosque. The museum is an orientalist fantasy: fragrant jasmine courtyards carpeted floors, fountains, meandering corridors, and loggias with grates that conceal their eyes.


Gayer Anderson Museum

Another peculiar feature of the mosque is the outer walls. In Baghdad, these walls were intended to separate the sacred space of the mosque from the area in front. In Egypt, this type of structure was later filled by the houses of wealthy Egyptians, who had doors built inside the mosque walls to give their houses direct and private access.

Each of these houses has now been demolished and the entrance doors sealed, except for two doors that now form the entrance to the Gayer Anderson Museum. Robert Gayer Anderson was a British colonial officer who lived in one of these houses during the 1930s, with permission from the Egyptian government.

Gayer Anderson was an orientalist and a greedy collector who had filled his home with his collections of art, furniture, and carpets while supervising their restoration.

When she left Egypt in 1942, she donated the entire contents of the house to the Egyptian government. The result is a completely restored heritage in the house that is considered today one of the best examples of 17th-century Cairene architecture.

Recently, the house was used for the shooting of a James Bond film, “The Spy who loved me”. Although they are visited by a relatively small number of tourists, these two sites are indeed some of the most deserving in Cairo.

Next to each other, the masterfully restored mosque and museum give an unparalleled retrospective of the ancient city. Located in the surroundings of Sayeda Zeynab, both buildings are in the vicinity of Sultan Hassan’s mosque and the Citadel of Saladin, which makes a one-day tour including their visit easier.

About the author

Magdy Fattouh (Migo) is a creative content marketer and expert in search engines for over 5 years. He manifests his passion in his role as a Creative Content Writer especially in travel where he strives to evoke a strong sense of place in his write-ups.

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