Mosque · The Citadel

Mosque of Muhammad Ali

The alabaster mosque whose silver domes and needle minarets define Cairo's skyline.

Built between 1830 and 1848 within the Citadel by Muhammad Ali Pasha, the founder of modern Egypt, the mosque was modeled on the great imperial mosques of Istanbul. Clad in Egyptian alabaster and crowned by twin pencil minarets, it shelters the ruler's own tomb and dominates the view of the city from the hills.

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