Another look at a segment of the central courtyard's arcade in the Ibn Tulun mosque. -MA
In her account of important monuments in Cairo, Caroline Williams writes: "If one has time to see only one Islamic monument in Cairo, it should be this one. Its simplicity and grandeur of scale make it the most moving of the great mosques" (50). "Ahmad ibn Tulun was the son of a Turkish slave of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma’mun. He was sent to Egypt in 868 as governor of al-Fustat, but within two years he had been made governor of the whole country" (50). "The mosque was built between 876 and 879 and is important for several reasons. It is the oldest mosque in Cairo that remains essentially as it was built. It also survives as a rare example of the art and architecture of the classical period of Islam, the ninth and tenth centuries, for it was built at a time when the influence of the Abbasid court in Iraq was dominant in the Islamic world. Its inspiration is thus almost exclusively Mesopotamian. Finally, this mosque provides one of the best examples of the classic congregational courtyard plan" (51). "Inside the mosque one is immediately struck by its vastness: it covers six and a half acres. This was the main congregational mosque of al-Qata’i‘, the mosque in which the whole congregation joined together for the Friday noon prayer. The original courtyard could have been used, if needed, as a spillover space for prayer. The arcades around the courtyard, which are deeper on the qibla side, are formed by arches on brick piers and are roofed with palm logs boxed in by wooden panels. Rosettes and windows form a continuous and simple decoration. The arches are pointed— two hundred years before similar arches made their appearance in Europe— and spring from oblong supports rounded at the corners by pilasters, or engaged columns" (51-52).
Williams, Caroline. Islamic Monuments in Cairo: The Practical Guide. The American University in Cairo, 2002.
Creation date unknown. Photograph processed September 1963. Formerly cataloged as B05.068. Notes written on the slide of index: Ibn Tulun.
