Mosque · Egypt
Mosque of al-Zahir Baybars
جامع الظاهر بيبرس
A 1260s congregational mosque in Cairo’s al-Zahir district, among the oldest Mamluk mosques, restored in a project completed in 2022.
Where it is
30.0624, 31.2635
Why go
Sultan Baybars al-Bunduqdari ordered this mosque in 1266 on roughly 12,600 square metres of land at today’s al-Zahir Square, making it one of the oldest Mamluk mosques. Four arcades surround a central courtyard, the deepest on the qibla side, where a great wooden dome once stood before the mihrab; it collapsed long ago. The building served as a French fort, then a British army store and slaughterhouse, before a restoration in cooperation with Kazakhstan, completed in 2022, strengthened its foundations and restored its ceilings and floors.
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