Ibn Tulun Mosque and Gayer Anderson Museum

Ibn Tulun Mosque and Gayer Anderson Museum Ibn Tulun Mosque/Ahmed Ibn Tulun Mosque Information. The Ibn Tulun Mosque is the oldest and best Mosque in Egypt, and it received it’s name from Mamluk Prince Ahmed Ibn Tulun one of the Soldiers of the Samarra Forces, who was promoted to control Egypt between 868 and 888 AD. Although the Ibn Tulun Mosque was put through many demolition and fire attempts, it was also restored more than once, and the most prominent Caliph who carried out the restoration work was Al Mustarsiv Billah, who added four niches made of Plaster to the Mosque. There is a strange Story that goes along the lines that the architect who was controlling the construction made a strange mpvement which was wrapping his hands in paper so as to show the workers the shape of the Minaret he wanted in the end to get it’s current shape. The Ibn Tulun Mosque is the Oldest and Largest Mosque built in The City in terms of Land Area, constructed between 876 AD and 879 AD, who was the Govenor of Al Fustat in the Ninth Century by the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad. Mosque of Ibn Tulun Address….Tolon, El Sayeda Zainab, Cairo Governate, Egypt. Archetectual Style…. Abbasid architecture. Founder….Ahmad Ibn Tulun Leadership….Ahmed Ibn Tulun Archetectual Type….Mosque/Islamic architecture. The Mosque which covers 2.5 hectores was built to keep The City at a distance, it was filled with shops and stalls, and Ibn Tulun was inspired back to his Homeland in particular the Ancient Mosque of Samarra. However a few archetectual Historians said the Mosque was the first Building to use T pointed Arch, which was two hundred Years before the European Gothic Arch. Another distinctive characteristic of the Mosque is it’s use of an exterior enclosure wall. These walls were intended to Section Off the Sacred space of the Mosque from the City around it in Baghdad, however in Egypt this enclosure was eventually filled with the Houses of wealthy Egyptians who constructed doors into the walls of the Mosque to provide their houses with Private and direct access inside. All of these houses have now been destroyed and the Doorways Sealed Up, except for the two that now form the Gayer Anderson Museum Robert Gayer Anderson was a British Colonial Officer who resided in these houses in the 1930’s with the permission of the Egyptian Government. Being a Orientalist and avid collector he filled his house with his own Personal Collection of Art, Furniture and carpeting, whilst supervising the restoration. After he moved from Egypt in 1942, he left the whole of the contents of his house to the Egyptian Government. The outcome Today is a completely refurbished home which is considered to be one of the best preserved examples of Seventeenth Century Cairene architecture in The City. An interesting fact is that the House was apparently used for part of the James Bond Movie The Spy Who Loved Me. Although frequented by a small number of Tourists, these two Sites are really among the most impressive in Cairo, with the combination of the strikingly restored Mosque and the Museum being next to each other, they provide an exceptional view back into Cairo’s past. Located in the Sayeda Zainab Neighborhood of Cairo, they lie very close to the Sultan Hassan Mosque and Saladin’s Citadel and can be very easily mixed in with a Tour of these more well known Sites in One Day.