Cairo Citadel - Mosque of al-Nasir Muhammad Ibn Qalawun
The Mosque of al-Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun is situated inside the Cairo Citadel. This mosque was built by al-Nasir Muhammad in 1318 during his third and longest reign (1309-1340) as the royal mosque of the citadel.
It occupies a rectangular surface area measuring 57 m by 63 m. The ground plan of this mosque consists of a courtyard surrounded by four roofed areas.
Some of the Pharonic, Ptolemaic and Roman columns which were re-used in it’s construction. Even some stones were brought from the Pyramids of Egypt. One capital has signs which points to the fact that at some stage this column was a part of a church or temple. Another column columns has the zodiac and sun on it.
It has has two minarets, one (northwestern) is located to the left of the main entrance. The second minaret is located on the southeastern corner of the mosque. Old dome over the prayer niche collapsed in the sixteenth century. The rows of columns form the parallel arcaded sides of the courtyard and this mosque can hold up to 5000 worshippers.
