Al-Bakiriyya was built in 1597 by the Ottoman governor Hasan Pasha and is the largest and most architecturally ambitious Ottoman-era mosque in Yemen. The plan is classical Ottoman: a single large prayer hall under a hemispherical dome, with a courtyard in front and a slender pencil minaret — a striking visual contrast to the older, more typically Yemeni minarets elsewhere in the old city.
The interior is austerely whitewashed and floored with carpets; the carved wooden mihrab and the painted ceiling are the highlights. Non-Muslims are generally not admitted, but the courtyard and exterior are open and the building is one of the photographic highlights of the quarter.