Mosque of Sultan Hassan

View looking up in a light well for the madrasa dormitory; The complex erected between 1356 and 1362 by the Mamluk sultan Hasan (reigned 1347-1361 with interruption) is the largest and most impressive of all Mamluk buildings in Cairo. Located on the square below the citadel, the building comprises a four-iwan congregational mosque with four madrasas of varying size crammed into its corners, a huge domed mausoleum flanked by twin minarets behind the qibla iwan and, at a lower level, a market and water-tower. The once bulbous dome has been rebuilt. The massive stone exterior, punctuated by the dome and minarets, is articulated with thin vertical niches and crowned by a bold muqarnas cornice. The 28 m-high portal, designed with twin minarets above and based roughly on Anatolian models, was cleverly angled to be visible from the citadel. The enormous domed vestibule is elaborately decorated; a panel of inlaid marble can only have been the work of a craftsman trained in Damascus, giving support to historical accounts that Hasan invited architects from all over the Islamic world to work on the building. Source: Grove Art Online; http://www.groveart.com/ (accessed 1/18/2008