Author
The construction was supervised by Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Fatik, who is the minister of the Caliph and the Commander of the Laws of God. His name was written with the name of the Caliph al-Amir in the founding text on the facade of the building.
Author Original
أشرف على البناء أبو عبد الله محمد بن فاتك، وهو وزير الخليفة الآمر بأحكام الله وقد كتب اسمه مع اسم الخليفة الآمر في النص التأسيسي الموجود على واجهة المبنى
Publication Date
519 AH / 1125 AD
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;eg;Mon01;33;ar
Library Location
The Aqmar Mosque is located on Al-Mu'izz Lidin Allah Street (Al-Gamaleya District), and its location when it was built was to the north of the Eastern Fatimid Palace, Cairo, Egypt.
Date
519 AH / 1125 AD
Notes
This mosque is considered one of the most beautiful Fatimid mosques and the oldest remaining example of small mosques in Egypt. Perhaps the most prominent feature of the building is its western facade, as it is considered one of the oldest stone facades decorated in this rich and diverse style in Islamic architecture in Egypt. Perhaps the decorations of the facade of the prominent entrance to Al-Hakim Mosque (built in 403 AH / 1012 AD) had an influence on the construction and decoration of the entrance in this building. Historical references indicate the use of stone in Fatimid architecture, alongside bricks. The traveler Nasser Khusraw, who visited Egypt in 439 AH / 1048, described the Fatimid palaces that he saw there as having walls of stones that fit tightly together to the point that it seemed to the viewer that they were carved in a single rock. The decorations were carved symmetrically on the facade and the entrance, and included many elements, including conch shapes and blind, knotted arches carried on spiral columns, in addition to the shapes of vases, roses, and lozenges. The façade also included beveled squinches (muqarnas), which were considered one of the new architectural elements in Islamic architecture in Egypt in that era. This element had previously appeared in Bab al-Futuh (built in 480 AH / 1087 AD) in Cairo. The façade also contains inscription bands in the flowery Kufic script. To the left of the entrance is a minaret. It is one of the works carried out in 799 AH / 1396 AD by Amir Al-Bugha Al-Salmi, one of the Mamluks of Sultan Al-Zahir Barquq (who ruled in the years 784 - 791 AH / 1382 - 1389 AD, and 792 - 801 AH / 1390 - 1399 AD). The internal dimensions of the mosque are 28 cm. x 17.50 metres, and in the middle is a square-shaped open courtyard with a side length of 10 metres, surrounded by four roofed areas with rows of columns. The deepest of these areas is the qibla area, which contains three arcades, while there is only one arcade in each of the other three areas, and the arches of the arcades are all built of brick. All the corridors of the mosque, except for the corridor in front of the mihrab, are covered with small, low domes built of brick, and the transition areas in them consist of spherical triangles. This method had previously been used to cover the ceilings in Bab al-Nasr and Bab al-Futuh (built in 480 AH / 1087 AD) in the Fatimid era, and was later used in the Khanqah of Faraj bin Barquq (built in 813 AH / 1410 AD) in the Mamluk era. It became common after that in Ottoman mosques to use multiple small domes to cover the corridors, as well as to use spherical triangles as transitional areas in the domes. One of the most important features that distinguishes the horizontal plan of the building is its response to the direction of the street, which deviates from the direction of the Qibla, and on which the western façade of the building, which contains the entrance, is located, and at the same time its response to the direction of the Qibla. This was done by using a triangular section that formed a transition area, with its outer side aligned with the street and its inner side aligned with the direction of the Qibla. This mosque is considered one of the oldest buildings in the Islamic world that used a triangular section to respond to the surrounding urban fabric. The mosque was exposed to encroachments in the 13th century AH / 19 AD, the most prominent of which led to the loss of the right half of its western facade, which was replaced by the facade of a house. The house encroaching on the mosque was expropriated and demolished, and the facade of the mosque was restored to what it was, based on the left half of the facade, which the right half was similar to. This was done in the twentieth century.
Sample Text
Tarek Torky “Al-Aqmar Mosque” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;eg;Mon01;33;ar
