The Citadel and Mohammad Ali Mosque.
The Citadel originally was built in 810 AD as a pavilion called the "Dome of the Wind", by the governor of the city at that time. The area was well known for its cool breeze. The early governors, used the pavilion for its view of Cairo and the cooling breeze. Between 1176 and 1183, Salah ad-Din (Saladin 1171-1193 AD), built a strong and impenetrable fort and palace to protect the area from attacks by the Crusaders. The Citadel of Cairo is very medieval in look and style.
For the next 700 years, Egypt was ruled from this hill. During the 1330s al-Nasir Muhammad, (AD 1293-1340) and was considered the greatest Mamluk sultan, tore down most of the Ayyubid buildings to make room for his own needs, which included several palaces and a mosque in addition to barracks for his army.
Over the course of the Citadel’s history it has been the seat of government for the Ayyubid, Mamluk, Ottoman, and Khedival rulers of Egypt from the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries, and each ruler has added their influence to the buildings by adding to or rebuilding all, or parts of the Citadel.
Nothing remains of the original fortress except a part of the walls and the well that supplied the Citadel with water. The walls that circle the northern side are 18 metres (33 ft) tall and 3.4 metres (10 ft) thick.
When the Turkish Muhammad 'Ali was sent to Cairo by the Ottoman rulers as Governor in the 1800s he had all the original buildings of the Citadel torn down and he rebuilt the complex which is why it has a heavy Turkish-Ottoman empire influence.
The mosque that he built also bears his name. It was built between 1824 and 1848. The current domes were rebuilt in the 1930s. The Muhammad Ali Mosque is also known as the Alabaster Mosque.
The mosque has the customary domes and tall slender minarets but show the Ottoman style. The interior has hanging globe lamps circling the ceiling, like stars in an evening sky as well as a very large chandelier. The ceiling is absolutely stunning, richly decorated with mosaics in green and gold and the interior is huge and has large, tall marble columns holding and archways as part of the beautiful interior. There are also small stained glass windows high up near the ceiling and the light is filtered through the coloured glass. The effect is stunning. The red and gold carpets are probably not the originals, but would reflect the style of the original ones. Although very worn from the hundreds of feet that walk on them daily, you can see the rich traditional elegance of the carpets.
Muhammad Ali is buried beneath a white marble monument on the right side of the entrance behind a bronze grill.
In the large open courtyard is a Turkish style Baroque ablutions fountain and a French ornate clock which was a gift from King Louis Philippe in exchange for an obelisk that is in Paris. The clock for some reason, has never worked.
Ceiling inside Mosque
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