Mosque of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad

The Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun Mosque is a mosque located in the Citadel of Cairo, Egypt. It was built in 1318 by Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad as the royal mosque of the Citadel, where the sultans of Cairo performed their Friday prayers. The mosque is a free-standing, rectangular block with a courtyard surrounded by four roofed areas, consisting of rows of columns, forming the parallel arcaded sides of the courtyard. The largest of these areas is located on the eastern side, which is the direction of the qibla. The mosque follows the hypostyle scheme and is characterized by its austere exterior and intricate interior decorations, including marble columns, pre-Islamic capitals, and pointed arches with ablaq voussoirs. The mosque also features two unique minarets, which are among the earliest examples of minarets in Egypt with bases below the level of the roof of the mosque. The minarets are decorated with faience mosaics and Qur'anic inscriptions in white against a background of blue. The mosque was an important center of Islamic learning and prayer, and its architecture reflects the cultural and artistic exchange between Egypt and other Islamic regions during the Mamluk period