E.063 Mosque of Ahmad Ibn Tulun

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Creator

Denis Baly

Creation Year

January 1960

Image ID

E.063

Alternate Identifier

B05.063

Subcollection

E - Lower Egypt, Edfu, and Bodrum

Abstract

A wide view of the giant piers supporting the arcade on one side of the courtyard of the Ibn Tulun Mosque.

Description

"The arches are outlined with an edge of carved stucco. It appears that all of the arcades originally had soffits of carved stucco similar to those that have been restored in the southern arcade. The use of red brick covered with stucco decoration is a feature imported from Samarra, the court city of the Abbasids, one hundred kilometers north of Baghdad. This royal city existed from 836 to 886. Because Samarra extended over a vast area and was built quickly, an efficient and rapid way had to be developed to decorate vast surfaces of brick. Wet plaster was stamped with carved and patterned wooden molds. It is this so-called Samarran decoration that one finds around and under the arches, on the capitals of the pilasters, and on the wooden panels over the entrances in the Mosque of Ibn Tulun" (52). (See E.060-61 for more detail on this mosque.)

References

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

Image Notes

Creation date unknown. Photograph processed August 1960. Formerly cataloged as B05.063. Notes written on the slide of index: Ibn Tulun.

Image Format

35 mm slide

Geographic Reference

Cairo, Egypt