Mosque of Ibn Tulun
Cairo, Egypt
Open to visitors
The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.
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Built between 876 and 879 CE by Ahmad ibn Tulun in Islamic Cairo, the Mosque of Ibn Tulun is Egypt's oldest well-preserved mosque and a landmark of classical Abbasid architecture. Modeled after ninth-century mosques in Samarra, the Abbasid capital of Iraq, it features a large open courtyard surrounded by roofed aisles divided by rows of pointed arches decorated with carved stucco. An outer enclosure called the ziyada contains a distinctive minaret with an external spiral staircase. The Mamluk sultan Lajin undertook significant renovations in 1296, adding the fountain and domed kiosk that still occupy the courtyard's center, along with additional stucco mihrabs in the prayer hall. After deteriorating through the nineteenth century when it was repurposed for other functions, the mosque underwent restoration in the twentieth century and is now part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Movement
- Built
- Type
- mosque
- Heritage
- part of UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Place
- Cairo, Egypt
This building on
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Location