Sultan Hassan Mosque and Madrasa

The Mosque and Madrasa of Sultan Hassan, built between 1356 and 1363, is considered the masterpiece of Mamluk architecture. Its sheer scale is overwhelming from outside: the facade rises 38 metres, and the carved stone portal is 20 metres high. The proportions are perfect in a way that no photograph quite captures.

Inside, four great iwans (vaulted halls) face a central courtyard — each iwan housing one of the four schools of Sunni Islamic law. The prayer iwan at the far end, with its forest of hanging brass lamps and its deep mihrab niche, is one of the finest interior spaces in Cairo. The attached mausoleum holds the sultan's cenotaph. The mosque stands just below the Citadel; the view back up toward the Saladin fortress from the mosque's entrance is one of Cairo's great urban compositions.

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The Sultan Hassan complex was funded partly by treasure looted from the estates of the victims of the Black Death, which killed a third of Egypt's population between 1347 and 1349. The plague created a sudden windfall of unclaimed property that the sultan directed into his building program. The result is one of the most ambitious architectural projects in Mamluk history — begun in 1356, it was still unfinished when Sultan Hassan was assassinated in 1361.

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