Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan

About this place

The largest thing the Mamluks built, and to many historians the summit of Islamic architecture in Egypt — raised between 1356 and 1363 directly below the Citadel. Scale is the first thing you notice: the façade rises some thirty-six metres, the portal alone is taller than a three-storey building, and the qibla iwan is among the largest vaults built anywhere in the medieval world. So much was spent on it that it was said to have nearly bankrupted the state. The plan is cruciform: an open court with four iwans leading off it, and in the corners four separate madrasas, one for each of the Sunni schools of law, each with its own students and lodgings. It was not merely a mosque but a university with four faculties. Sultan Hassan himself was killed before it was finished and was never buried here; the huge dome chamber behind the qibla wall stands empty of him — one of the building's ironies. Directly opposite across the square stands the Rifai Mosque, far younger — late nineteenth century — holding the tombs of Egypt's royal family and that of the last Shah of Iran. One ticket usually covers both. Inside it is cool and nearly empty of visitors, and the echo under the iwan is part of its effect.