A Tour in Egypt's Mohammed Ali’s Mosque
Welcome to Egypt… Welcome to Cairo…
"You must be longing to see Egypt. For that you’ll refuse to go to the hotel, and you’ll prefer to start from this moment. I know you want to see the Pyramids, now. It’s your life’s dream. Well, but do you think you’re able now to ride a horse, or a camel in the desert of Pyramids? Will you be able to descend deeply inside Pyramids to see if those great kings lay there? Probably not today, and I’m sure you don’t want to miss that. I’ll advise you to suspend that until tomorrow. You need some rest now. What’s a better place than a Citadel to find rest and safety?! Well, let's go!
"Look! We’re still far away, but you can see it clearly. This Citadel that rises on The Hill of Al-Moqattam, in one of the highest areas in Cairo. What a perfect place for a Citadel! It’s called: Qal’et El-Gabal (Citadel of The Mountain) or Qal’et Salah El-Deen Al-Ayouby (Citadel of Salah El-Deen Al-Ayouby). It’s about 800 years old, but still firm and grand. It dominated the landscape for many centuries.
"It’s too vast to be explored in one day, but we can have a quick look around. You may like to enter this mosque or that. Many mosques have been built on it through all these years. You may also like to enter this museum or that, to discover the Modern History of Egypt. You must be wondering at the wonderful weather and the pure air. That’s because the site that was chosen very carefully. When they thought about building the Citadel, they hung pieces of meat in many places. The healthiest area was where the meat took a longer time to decay. No wonder that it’s still alive. You can easily imagine the soldiers in the towers and on top of the walls, ready to spend their souls to save this place.
"Do you see this great mosque? It’s called Mohammed Ali’s Mosque. He was one of the greatest governors of Egypt in the modern age. When he came to power in 1805, he saw that it was necessary to build a big mosque in The Citadel to be a place for prayer and other tasks. With its two high minarets and huge dome, you can easily see it from many places in Cairo and it dazzle eyes everywhere.
"Do you know why you might find it familiar? Because it was designed by the famous Turkish engineer, Yousof Boshtaq, so it came as a mix of Al-Sultan Ahmad’s Mosque and Aya Sofia’s Mosque in Turkey. If Pyramids are the mark of Ancient Egypt, and if Al-Azhar Mosque is the mark of Islamic Egypt, Mohammad Ali’s Mosque iscertainly the mark of Modern Egypt.
"The mosque consists of two parts: The covered prayer hall, and the open courtyard. Lets explore the covered space first. How big is it?! It’s about 41 square meters. Lets go to the center, between these four huge columns. Look up! This is a big dome from inside. It extends up 52 meters and is 21 meters in diameter. It is surrounded by four half domes, with the same diameter, but less in height. The four corners of the mosque are covered with four small domes.
Within the mosque are two minbars, or pulpits. The larger one of wood is decorated with gilt ornament, and is original. It is said to be one of the largest in Egypt, incorporating significant gold in its decorations. The smaller one of alabaster was a gift from King Faruq, dating to 1939. The mihrab, or prayer niche, is made of Egyptian marble. It is covered with another half dome! It is rather simple, but very beautiful at the same time
"Do you notice these colored lights? They come from these big and high windows with stained glass in the walls. Do you see these small windows in the big dome, half domes, and the small domes? They are so nice. They give a beautiful effect, but you don’t need to count them. If you asked me, I would tell you there are 136 windows. I see you are astonished by these wonderful colored decorations in the walls and domes. Well, you have the right to be dazzled, but we aren’t going to spend all day here. We still have a lot to see.
"Let’s go out through the main door in the back wall. Now we are in the open courtyard, the other part of the mosque. Do you feel its size? Yes, it’s about 53x54 meters, larger then the mosque. What’s this thing in the center of the court? It’s a fountain! It would have been used for ablution before prayers. This bulge beside it is the mouth of the water tank.
"Look around! You see that the courtyard is surrounded by rounded arcades and covered by small domes. These domes are supported by large marble columns Don’t you think that these 47 domes are very beautiful? Look at this small tower, in the back of the court. This clock inside it was a gift from Louis Felipe, King Of France to Egypt, The clock, given as a gift in exchange for the Egyptian obelisk now in the Palace de la Concorde, Paris the clock has never worked, and probably never will
"Well, let’s walk around the mosque. May be you don’t read Arabic, but I’m sure you’ll like these inscriptions on the inner and outer walls. Would you like to have a photo of these high minarets? You shouldn’t miss that. They are the highest minarets in Egypt, at 82 meters tall. We are near to the Citadel’s walls. From here, you can see most of Historical Cairo, and on a very clear day, you may be able to see Pyramids too!
"Well, after you saw this great mosque and its position in the Citadel, I think you can understand why some people become confused. The Citadel is sometimes mistakenly called Mohammed Ali’s Citadel! But the novel thing, and what they don’t know, is that there really is a citadel called Mohammed Ali’s Citadel, near to Salah El-Din’s Citadel!! We hope to visit it one day.
Welcome to Egypt… Welcome to Cairo…
"You must be longing to see Egypt. For that you’ll refuse to go to the hotel, and you’ll prefer to start from this moment. I know you want to see the Pyramids, now. It’s your life’s dream. Well, but do you think you’re able now to ride a horse, or a camel in the desert of Pyramids? Will you be able to descend deeply inside Pyramids to see if those great kings lay there? Probably not today, and I’m sure you don’t want to miss that. I’ll advise you to suspend that until tomorrow. You need some rest now. What’s a better place than a Citadel to find rest and safety?! Well, let's go!
"Look! We’re still far away, but you can see it clearly. This Citadel that rises on The Hill of Al-Moqattam, in one of the highest areas in Cairo. What a perfect place for a Citadel! It’s called: Qal’et El-Gabal (Citadel of The Mountain) or Qal’et Salah El-Deen Al-Ayouby (Citadel of Salah El-Deen Al-Ayouby). It’s about 800 years old, but still firm and grand. It dominated the landscape for many centuries.
"It’s too vast to be explored in one day, but we can have a quick look around. You may like to enter this mosque or that. Many mosques have been built on it through all these years. You may also like to enter this museum or that, to discover the Modern History of Egypt. You must be wondering at the wonderful weather and the pure air. That’s because the site that was chosen very carefully. When they thought about building the Citadel, they hung pieces of meat in many places. The healthiest area was where the meat took a longer time to decay. No wonder that it’s still alive. You can easily imagine the soldiers in the towers and on top of the walls, ready to spend their souls to save this place.
"Do you see this great mosque? It’s called Mohammed Ali’s Mosque. He was one of the greatest governors of Egypt in the modern age. When he came to power in 1805, he saw that it was necessary to build a big mosque in The Citadel to be a place for prayer and other tasks. With its two high minarets and huge dome, you can easily see it from many places in Cairo and it dazzle eyes everywhere.
"Do you know why you might find it familiar? Because it was designed by the famous Turkish engineer, Yousof Boshtaq, so it came as a mix of Al-Sultan Ahmad’s Mosque and Aya Sofia’s Mosque in Turkey. If Pyramids are the mark of Ancient Egypt, and if Al-Azhar Mosque is the mark of Islamic Egypt, Mohammad Ali’s Mosque iscertainly the mark of Modern Egypt.
"The mosque consists of two parts: The covered prayer hall, and the open courtyard. Lets explore the covered space first. How big is it?! It’s about 41 square meters. Lets go to the center, between these four huge columns. Look up! This is a big dome from inside. It extends up 52 meters and is 21 meters in diameter. It is surrounded by four half domes, with the same diameter, but less in height. The four corners of the mosque are covered with four small domes.
Within the mosque are two minbars, or pulpits. The larger one of wood is decorated with gilt ornament, and is original. It is said to be one of the largest in Egypt, incorporating significant gold in its decorations. The smaller one of alabaster was a gift from King Faruq, dating to 1939. The mihrab, or prayer niche, is made of Egyptian marble. It is covered with another half dome! It is rather simple, but very beautiful at the same time
"Do you notice these colored lights? They come from these big and high windows with stained glass in the walls. Do you see these small windows in the big dome, half domes, and the small domes? They are so nice. They give a beautiful effect, but you don’t need to count them. If you asked me, I would tell you there are 136 windows. I see you are astonished by these wonderful colored decorations in the walls and domes. Well, you have the right to be dazzled, but we aren’t going to spend all day here. We still have a lot to see.
"Let’s go out through the main door in the back wall. Now we are in the open courtyard, the other part of the mosque. Do you feel its size? Yes, it’s about 53x54 meters, larger then the mosque. What’s this thing in the center of the court? It’s a fountain! It would have been used for ablution before prayers. This bulge beside it is the mouth of the water tank.
"Look around! You see that the courtyard is surrounded by rounded arcades and covered by small domes. These domes are supported by large marble columns Don’t you think that these 47 domes are very beautiful? Look at this small tower, in the back of the court. This clock inside it was a gift from Louis Felipe, King Of France to Egypt, The clock, given as a gift in exchange for the Egyptian obelisk now in the Palace de la Concorde, Paris the clock has never worked, and probably never will
"Well, let’s walk around the mosque. May be you don’t read Arabic, but I’m sure you’ll like these inscriptions on the inner and outer walls. Would you like to have a photo of these high minarets? You shouldn’t miss that. They are the highest minarets in Egypt, at 82 meters tall. We are near to the Citadel’s walls. From here, you can see most of Historical Cairo, and on a very clear day, you may be able to see Pyramids too!
"Well, after you saw this great mosque and its position in the Citadel, I think you can understand why some people become confused. The Citadel is sometimes mistakenly called Mohammed Ali’s Citadel! But the novel thing, and what they don’t know, is that there really is a citadel called Mohammed Ali’s Citadel, near to Salah El-Din’s Citadel!! We hope to visit it one day.
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