Hello Gals!
So I've been featuring some local favorites of mine for Historical Thursday and today I wanted to show you guys an amazing place my family and I went to this summer.
These pictures aren't amazing because unfortunately I didn't yet have the lovely camera I have now.
Either way I hope you enjoy them.
It was a Mosque!!! I'm really crazy about Mosques, especially really old ones like this one that we visited in Cairo. It's called the Muhammad Ali Mosque and it is inside of the Cairo Citadel.
The Citadel is a medieval Cairo fortification on a hill near the center of Cairo.
The whole fortification was built around the 1100s and the mosque was built between 1830 and 1848.
The Mosque itself is made out of limestone but it also contains an alabaster courtyard and the inside courtyard is filled with alabaster columns.
It's so breathtaking I could've spent all day walking around and it wouldn't have been enough time.
The Mosque has many of these painted motifs inside of the mosque and also alongside the courtyard.
It was built with one large dome surrounded by four small and four semi-circular dome. The architecture of the overall Mosque also included two minarets, which is a tall spire that tapers off into a cylinder or cone shape. Basically a ornate type of tower structure. They use it for call to prayer.
Outside wall ornate metal decorations.
Not too sure what this was but Arabic is such a beautifully written language.
Tomb of Muhammad Ali Pasha who had this built in memory of his son. It is made out of Carrara marble and it is centrally located in the courtyard. The carvings on these were breathtaking!
My sister and I standing next to the tomb. We had to wear those robes because we were wearing clothing that didn't cover our knees and upper arms. When we walked into the Mosque itself we had to take our shoes off as well.
Covered hallways contained these intricate motifs that were painted and decorated.
Those last three pictures were from the actual inside of the Mosque. They all have those lamps in the middle of the praying are which I find to be mesmerizing.
Not too sure why I didn't take pictures of the ceilings inside, might have had to do with no flash, either way they were so ornate and beautiful.
I don't like to use images that aren't mine really but I had to find this one for you guys. It was stunning to say the least. I also completely forgot to mention that it is still indeed a working Mosque and people come to prayer here.
Bonus picture of us overlooking Cairo. All the stuff that looks like fog is actually smog. This was a particularly bad day and we couldn't really see too much of the city. Bummer.
This is one of many locations that I hope to lead you guys through. Hope you enjoyed it!
With all my love,
Pati
These are amazing. I am beyond jealous. I was obsessed with Egypt all throughout my schooling years. I would love to go! Looks like a great time.
ReplyDeleteI am still obsessed with Egypt, since the age of seven might I add. It's just so fascinating. It's what really brought about my love for history to begin with. There's more pictures to come don't worry!
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