Al-Rifai Mosque is a unique masterpiece.

The Al-Rifai Mosque is one of the most beautiful mosques that any visitor or even a student of Islamic antiquities can see in Egypt. Starting from the location between the Al-Rifai Mosque and the Sultan Hassan Mosque, this combination alone is a harmony of two architectural masterpieces of different modernities; It was as if they were talking to each other, and each of the architectural details of each of them responded to each other in wonderful harmony. A stone was uttering what time had hidden.

Origin and date of creation:

Khoshyar Hanim chose the mosque site, perhaps because it was opposite to Sultan Hassan or because Basel was a zooey of Sheikh Al-Rifai. A large mosque instead of a small mosque to be a burial ground for her and her family, in addition to the two domes of Sheikh Ali bin Abi Shabak and Sheikh Yahya Al-Ansari. Hussein Pasha Fahmy began work in the mosque but stopped in 1885 due to Khoshyar Hanim, and Hots Pasha completed its construction in 1905, and the mosque was opened in 1330 AH – 1912 AD.

The architectural style of the mosque:

The layout of the mosque and its architectural style, “The mosque in its enormity matches the churches of Hagia Sophia and the Christian cathedrals in Rome; It is, of course, a reflection of the idea of ​​dividing the basilica, which began in Islamic architecture since the Umayyad period.

The mosque is an open museum that reflects the history of Islamic architecture in Egypt. The architect wanted to display his skill and arts, reflecting all the architectural and artistic elements that were present in the Islamic architecture record, the areas of transition of domes, the exquisite muqarnas that bear them, the towering capitals of the columns, the entrances and the vaulted chests in the facade, the lintels The buttoned or interlaced arches that take the forms of intertwined plant leaves above the openings of doors and entrances, which characterized Mamluk art, and its wooden mihrab is an art piece that tells the story of Mamluk art with the artistic taste of the nineteenth century. The two feathers of the pulpit and its front were inlaid with its shields, candies, and charms with pieces of ivory and mother-of-pearl, as well as the Mamluk taste in its ceilings, which were divided into squares and crocodiles and lined with a layer of blue lapis lazuli. With Mamluk wooden ceilings.

The Alawy family tombs and the secret of the crosses inside them:

The purpose of the construction of the mosque was to include the tombs of the upper family, where Zainab Hanim, Tawhid Hanim, Ali Jamal al-Din, Ibrahim Helmy, Sultan Hussein Kamel Ibn Khedive Ismail, and King Fouad were buried there, as well as Khoshyar Hanim and her son Khedive Ismail, as well as the wives of Khedive Ismail. Khedive Ismail, Princess Shohrat Faza, Princess Jananiar, Princess Jashem Aft, Princess Fadia, the youngest daughter of King Farouk, and finally Princess Ferial, mother of King Fouad. The Shah of Iran, “Mohammed Reza Pahlavi”, husband of Princess Fawzia, sister of King Farouk, and King Farouk, the last king of Egypt, was also buried in the mosque.

The secret of the presence of crosses inside the mosque:

What is striking is that the tomb of Jananiar Hanim, the wife of Khedive Ismail, designed in the Christian style, is topped with a cross and below are Quranic verses. The height is an architectural style for Gothic windows. From a structural point of view, it refers to the theory of the distribution of loads, especially with this high height of its external walls. The Egyptian taste accepted it, especially since the presence of crosses in Islamic architecture has a long history, so we find them in the capitals of columns in the Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque in the Citadel. A reflection of the use of building materials from old buildings.