Al-Aqmar Mosque

The moonlit mosque whose carved façade set a new course for Cairo's street architecture.

Built in 1125 for the Fatimid caliph al-Amir by his vizier al-Ma'mun al-Bata'ihi, Al-Aqmar owes its name ("the moonlit") to its pale stone. It is celebrated for one of the earliest fully decorated stone façades in Cairo, cleverly angled so the mosque aligns with Mecca while its front follows the line of the street.