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Al Aqmar Mosque

The Mosque of al-Aqmar was built by the Fatimid vizier Al-Ma'mun Al-Bata'ihi in 1125 during the caliphate of Al-Mustansir; he obtained a special dispensation to locate his mosque adjacent to the northeast side of the eastern Fatimid palace that was completely demolished in 1171. It is Located on the main road of the city. It's a small Mosque but it had great importance, it is known as al-Aqmar, which means "The Moon lit", sometimes also known as the Gray Mosque.

The mosque elaborate ornamentation and design had a great effect on Cairo's architecture,being the first mosque with an entrance that is not on an axis with the qibla wall. Here, the facade follows the alignment of the street, while the qibla wall is oriented to Mecca. In plan it is a regular, rectangular hypostyle mosque with a square courtyard, but the depth of the fa?ade is adjusted to fit the building behind to the dictates of the existing urban scheme.

Constructed of brick with stone facing, the fa?ade is highly decorated with inscriptions and sculptural decoration. The entrance portal is set within an arch with keel-shaped niche. The interior of the niche is fluted, with a central medallion inscribed with the names of Muhammad and 'Ali in kufic, this is all surrounded by arabesque, which are also inscribed on the chamfered corner of the building. The original minaret has not survived. The circular base of the minaret was rebuilt in the late fourteenth century by Amir Yalbugha al-Salami. It is a brick construct covered with stucco chevron carving and a molding with open work bosses.

Originally, the mosque of Al-Aqmar was not at street level as it is today, but much higher than the street, standing above a row of shops, which are now buried. However, at the time, they had an important function. The income of their rents were waqf, an endowment for the benefit of a pious

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