Sultan Hasan Mosque

views updated

SULTAN HASAN MOSQUE

One of the finest examples of Arab Egyptian architecture; situated below the citadel in Cairo.

Sultan Hasan mosque was built for the Mamluk Sultan Hasan al-Nasir in 13561363. The ground plan of the mosque takes the form of an irregular pentagon and occupies 9,450 square yards (7,800 sq m). It boasts a 267-foot (88 m) minaret in its south corner, the tallest in Cairo, and a massive main door at the north corner that is almost 85 feet (26 m) high. The exterior walls echo an ancient Egyptian temple, with large expanses of stone that are relieved by blind niches and double round arched windows. Stalactitic cornices, heavily restored, crown the facades. The mausoleum, which extends from the southeast wall, carries a 180-foot-high (55 m) dome of the Arab Turkish style that was almost completely rebuilt in the eighteenth century.


Bibliography

Berhens-Abuseif, D. Islamic Architecture in Cairo: An Introduction. Leiden, Netherlands, and New York: Brill, 1989.

Rogers, J. M. "Seljuk Influence in the Monuments of Cairo." Kunst des Orients 7 (19701971): 40 ff.

raymond william baker

More From encyclopedia.com