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Sultan Hassan Mosque
Cairo,
Egypt, 1356 to 1363.
Style:
Islamic
The
Medresa of Sultan Hassan at Cairo...is a collegiate mosque,
cruciform in plan. Four iwans, or recessed porches, with immense
pointed arches, constitute the arms of the cross. There is a
minimum of decoration, and the walls of the 100-ft sahn rise
skywards with splendid architectural effect. The founder’s domed
mausoleum, situated behind the qibla, is enriched with stalactite
decoration.
—John
Julius Norwich, ed. Great Architecture of the World. P. 133.
...it
has survived largely intact, though its dome, ablutions fountain,
and minaret have been reconstructed and its main doors taken
elsewhere. An immense portal with an elaborate muqarnas-headed
opening gives access to a majestic, domed entrance hall from which
a tortuous approach leads obliquely into the central court...The
tomb of the founder stands on the axis of the building, behind the
mihrab, and in the centre of he court an elaborate domed fountain
with wide eaves suggests the hand of the Syrians and other northern
artisan who were brought in at this time.
—Sir
Banister Fletcher. A History of Architecture. P. 570.
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