Muhammad Ali Mosche (Cairo - Egypt)

Muhammad Ali Mosche (Cairo - Egypt) a photo by Kaptah on Flickr.

La Mezquita de Alabastro, llamada sí por estar recubierta enteramente por alabastro, fue construida en 1824 y terminada por Said Pachá (hijo de Mohamed Alí) en el 1857 al más puro estilo de las mezquitas de Estambul, puesto que trajeron de Turquía al arquitecto de origen griego Yusuf Busnaq para que hiciera una réplica.

Destaca también en esta mezquita mameluca el patio interior para las abluciones y el mirador desde el que se pueden contemplar, si la contaminación lo permite, las pirámides de Saqqara. Detrás de la mezquita, en la que descansan los restos de Mohamed Alí en una tumba con una verja de bronce, se ubica el Palacio de El Yawahara (la Joya) de 1811, recientemente restaurado.

Como anécdota, tiene también una torre de reloj, regalo de Francia a cambio del obelisco que actualmente se encuentra en la Place de la Concorde y que formaba parte del templo de Luxor. Además del evidente mal negocio, la torre nunca funcionó correctamente (o eso dicen los egipcios).

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Situated on the summit of the citadel, this Ottoman mosque, the largest to be built in the first half of the 19th century, is, with its animated silhouette and twin minarets, the most visible mosque in Cairo. The mosque was built in memory of Tusun Pasha, Muhammad Ali's oldest son, who died in 1816.

The mosque was built on the site of old Mamluk buildings in Cairo's Citadel between 1830 and 1848, although not completed until the reign of Said Pasha in 1857. The architect was Yusuf Bushnak from Istanbul and its model was the Yeni Mosque in that city. The ground on which the mosque was erected was built with debris from the earlier buildings of the Citadel.

Before completion of the mosque, the alabastered panels from the upper walls were taken away and used for the palaces of Abbas I. The stripped walls were clad with wood painted to look like marble. In 1899 the mosque showed signs of cracking and some inadequate repairs were undertaken. But the condition of the mosque became so dangerous that a complete scheme of restoration was ordered by King Fuad in 1931 and was finally completed under King Farouk in 1939. Muhammad Ali Pasha was buried in a tomb carved from Carrara marble, in the courtyard of the mosque. His body was transferred here from Hawsh al-Basha in 1857.

The mosque has a clock tower, a gift from France in exchange for the obelisk (from Luxor temple) now located in the Place de la Concorde. Besides theobvious bad deal, the tower has never worked properly (or so they say the egyptians).