The spiral minaret
An external winding stair on the Samarra model, the only one of its kind in Egypt.
User:Berthold Werner — CC BY 3.0 · Abdo tahoon — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Holger Uwe Schmitt — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Holger Uwe Schmitt — CC BY-SA 4.0
The oldest mosque in Egypt surviving in its original form, and the largest in area — built between 876 and 879. Ahmad ibn Tulun, the Abbasid governor who made himself Egypt's effective ruler, built it on the model of the mosques of Samarra in Iraq rather than anything then standing in Egypt. That is where its spiral minaret with an external winding stair comes from — the only one of its kind in the country and the mosque's most famous feature. The courtyard is vast and nearly square, ringed by arcades of pointed arches on brick piers — not marble columns looted from older buildings, as was the custom, but brick cast for the purpose. That deliberate austerity is what gives the place its effect: no ornament to distract, only repeated arches, empty space and light. The mosque is nearly empty of visitors most of the time, the opposite of the crush at Hussein and Al-Azhar. The quiet is a real part of the experience. The spiral minaret can usually be climbed, and the view from the top over old Cairo and the Citadel is among the best in the city. The Gayer-Anderson Museum adjoins it — two joined Mamluk houses complete with their furnishings — on a separate ticket.
An external winding stair on the Samarra model, the only one of its kind in Egypt.
A vast unornamented space whose whole effect comes from repetition and light.
Two adjoining Mamluk houses complete with their furnishings, separately ticketed.
Al-Saliba Street, Sayyida Zeinab, Cairo
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The stair is external, narrow and low-walled; anyone afraid of heights will struggle. It is usually open but can be closed without notice. The view rewards those who can manage it.
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