Mosque of Ibn Tulun

The Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, completed in 879 CE, is the oldest mosque in Egypt that has survived in essentially its original form and one of the largest mosques in the world by land area. The mosque was commissioned by Ahmad ibn Tulun, the Abbasid governor of Egypt who established the short-lived Tulunid dynasty and built the mosque as the congregational mosque of his new capital city al-Qatai, just north of the older settlement of Fustat. The architectural style — built in red brick covered in carved stucco rather than the stone construction typical of later Cairene mosques — reflects the Iraqi Abbasid tradition that ibn Tulun knew from his upbringing in Samarra, and the mosque is in fact often described as a smaller, surviving version of the lost Great Mosque of Samarra. Its most distinctive feature is the spiral-staircase minaret on the exterior, modelled directly on the famous Malwiya minaret of Samarra and unique among the medieval mosques of Cairo. The vast central courtyard is surrounded by columned arcades on all four sides, with the main prayer hall on the qibla (Mecca-facing) side. The mosque has been restored multiple times — most extensively by the Mamluk sultan Lajin in 1296 — and continues to function as a working mosque while also serving as one of Cairo's most important historic monuments and a major destination for visitors interested in early Islamic architecture.