Egypt Magic [1491]
Sultan Hassan Mosque in Cairo, Sultan Hassan Mosque (left) and Al-Rifai Mosque (right) in Cairo
The mosque is characterized by a special character among the Islamic monuments in Egypt, making it an important tourist attraction. That is why many of the incoming presidents were keen to visit it.
“No Muslim temple is known in the countries of Islam that simulates this mosque and its dome that was not built in the homes of Egypt, the Levant, Iraq, Morocco and Yemen like it.” This is how Al-Maqrizi described the Sultan Hassan Mosque, which is the jewel of Islamic architecture in the entire East and represents the stage of maturity of Mamluk architecture and the best buildings of the Mamluk era.
In pictures, St. Peter’s Square, an architectural marvel that adorns the heart of the Vatican.
The mosque has a special character among the Islamic monuments in Egypt, which made it an important tourist attraction, and therefore many of the heads of state were keen to visit it; 2009 the former US President Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the mosque during a short visit to Egypt and wandered between its walls, fascinated by the art of Islamic architecture And in August 2011, the US Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson visited him, accompanied by Egyptian writer Gamal Al-Ghitani.
Rashad Hussein, US President Barack Obama’s special envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, visited the mosque as part of his tour to meet with the Egyptian government, political and religious leaders and civil society in August 2012. In March 2016, the Kuwaiti ambassador to Egypt visited the mosque to support Arab tourism to Egypt and highlight Archaeological treasures.
The Egyptian researcher Abdel-Azim Fahmy says that the Sultan Hassan group, or the mosque, school and dome of Sultan Al-Nasir Hassan, is one of the most important and famous ancient mosques in Cairo, as it is the fourth pyramid. Its construction began with Sultan Al-Nasir Hassan bin Al-Nasser Muhammad bin Qalawun in 757 AH / 1356 AD and was completed seven years later in 764 AH / 1363 AD during the reign of the Maritime Mamluks of Egypt; Sultan Hassan was killed before the completion of the construction, but he was not buried in the mausoleum that he built specifically because his body was not found. Still, his two sons were buried in it later.
Fahmy adds that there are wonders of architecture inside this mosque, as it is characterized by exquisite and very delicate decoration. The Sultan said of his architectural masterpiece: “Had it not been for the king of Egypt to say that he was unable to complete the building he built, I would have left the construction of this mosque from the large amount spent on it.” The work continued for 3 years. Non-stop, it was said to have cost 750,000 dinars of gold.
The mosque was built on  ​​7906 square meters on a plot of land called “Al Khail Market” in “Al Rumaila” Square, Salah El Din Square, now in the Caliph neighbourhood. It had a palace ordered to be built by Al Nasir Muhammad bin Qalawun for Prince Yalbugha Al Yahyawi. Sultan Hassan demolished this Palace, and he built his collection.
Fahmy says that the mosque adopts the style of Persian mosques in its construction, as it is designed in the orthogonal manner that includes four facing iwans, the largest of which is the eastern one, the “qibla”, and includes a marble mihrab decorated with delicate decorations and the minbar, and in the middle of it is an open courtyard, with a fountain for ablution. A wooden dome supported by eight columns His student, Prince Bashir Al-Jamdar, completed its construction in 1364 AD and wrote in its circles the verse of the chair and the date of its emptying. He completed the construction of the large dome of wood and covered it with lead panels, to be the fourth large dome in Egypt after Imam al-Shafi`i, the dome of the Al-Zahir Mosque, and the dome of the Al-Nasir Mosque Qalawun.
Surrounding the courtyard are 4 schools to teach the four schools of thought, which are small mosques gazing at the Great Mosque. Each school consists of an iwan and a courtyard in the middle of a fountain. Each school contains three floors that include student and lesson rooms, some of which overlook the school courtyard and others overlook the external facades. The Hanafi school is the largest of the schools, with an area of ​​898 meters.
He adds, the project was to build four minarets, three of which were completed, two of which surrounded the dome on the eastern side, and the third was on the right shoulder of the public door. In the year 762 AH / 1361AD, the third minaret fell on three hundred orphans and commoners. Sultan Hassan annulled the construction of the fourth lighthouse and settled for the two lighthouses until he thought that he heralded the demise of the state.
As for the door of the mosque, it is not its original door. It was covered with metal and copper, and Sultan Al-Moayad Sheikh stole it and placed it on the door of his mosque in the Bab Zuweila area. It is still present until now bearing the name of Sultan Hassan, and there are some traces of cannon strikes on the wall due to the Mamluk rising above the mosque and their use of catapults to hit the Citadel of Salah al-Din.
And due to the greatness of the mosque, the Egyptian government still puts the image of the mosque on the Egyptian 100-pound currency until now.