Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qala'un Mosque

One of the three mosques in the Cairo Citadel, Al-Nassir Mohamed mosque may seem minuscule next to the Mohamed Ali Mosque, it is however the only remaining Mamluk contribution to the Citadel.
Dating back to 1318, the mosque has two minarets, differing in shape and height. Note the beautifully carved wooden ceiling that is still in good shape. The glazed blue and green tiles that adorn the minarets are unusual for the mosques of Egypt and are also quite lovely. As you walk through this lovely old mosque it is hard to believe that it was once used as a stable!
The mosque forms a free-standing, rectangular block, the austere exterior of which might be accounted for by the military nature of its setting. It follows the hypostyle scheme with the standard pattern of a rectangular courtyard, with a sanctuary on the qibla side and arcades surrounding its other three sides. The arcades of the sanctuary and around the courtyard are formed by marble columns with pre-Islamic capitals carrying pointed arches with ablaq voussoirs. Above each arch is a pair of pointed-arched windows. These windows form the lower part of the crenellated wall which was probably added above the arcades in 1335.
The two minarets exhibit features unique among the extant minarets of Egypt. The shafts and tops are believed to have been built in 1335. They are the only minarets in Egypt whose bases are below the level of the roof of the mosque. A possible explanation is that these bases predate the raising of the roof in 1335. According to Maqrizi, Amir Qawsun hired a Tabrizi architect to build his mosque (1329-30), which had two minarets modeled after the minarets on the Mosque of Vizier 'Ali Shah Ghilani at Tabriz (none of these exist today). Also fashionable in Ilkhanid Persia were faience mosaics, which, on this bulbous top, are executed in green, white and blue, like those on the sabil attached by al-Nasir Muhammad to the madrasa of his father Qalawun (sabil 1326, mosaics probably after 1348), with an inscription band of white faience mosaic around the neck of the bulb.
The mosque's height was increased, roof rebuilt, and green-tiled wooden dome added over the maqsura in 1335. It was the royal mosque of the Mamluk sultans where their Friday prayers were performed. It was one of the most spectacular mosques of the city until the original tiled wooden dome over the nine-bay maqsura in front of the mihrab collapsed in the 16th c. and the marble dado was carried off by Sultan Selim to Istanbul.