Al Emam El Hussein Mosque
Fatimid-era shrine and mosque said to hold a sacred relic, rebuilt with Gothic revival arches and Ottoman minarets.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Al Emam El Hussein Mosque in Cairo opens in 1153, when the Fatimid caliph al-Zafir ordered the relic of Husayn ibn Ali, the prophet Muhammad's grandson, dug up secretly from its grave in Ashkelon and moved south ahead of advancing Crusader forces. It follows the mosque built over that burial spot the following year, and its repeated destruction and rebuilding by the Ayyubids and by fire, before Khedive Ismail's 1874 reconstruction mixed Gothic revival arches with Ottoman minarets. One fragment from the Ayyubid rebuilding, a minaret above the southern gate carved in 1237, survived every disaster and still stands today.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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