E.051 Mosque of al-Fakahani

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Creator

Denis Baly

Creation Year

January 1963

Image ID

E.051

Alternate Identifier

B05.051

Subcollection

E - Lower Egypt, Edfu, and Bodrum

Abstract

An elevated arcade resting on columns inside the Mosque of al-Fakahani ('fruit-sellers's').

Description

The mosque is "attributed to the Fatimid caliph al-Zahir in 1148. Of the original mosque it is the site, the basic plan, twelve reused marble columns, and most notably, the arabesque panels of the main doors that survive. These panels are in situ remnants of late Fatimid period woodwork ... Jonathan Bloom has established the chronology of interventions made to the structure over the centuries: after the 1303 earthquake, again in the fifteenth century, in the sixteenth century when the minaret was added, and finally, and most decisively, in 1736, when it was rebuilt by Ahmad Katkhuda al-Kharbutli, an officer of the Janissary corps. The visible result is this small Ottoman Cairene congregational mosque, whose continuity of almost a thousand years gives it manifest historical relevance" (164).

References

Williams, Caroline. Islamic Monuments in Cairo: The Practical Guide. The American University in Cairo, 2002.

Image Notes

Creation date unknown. Photograph processed September 1963. Formerly cataloged as B05.051. Notes written on the slide of index: El-Fakani Mosque.

Image Format

35 mm slide

Geographic Reference

Cairo, Egypt