Amr ibn al-As Mosque
Oldest standing mosque in Africa, built from a war-tent's spot and rebuilt across thirteen centuries.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Amr ibn al-As Mosque in Cairo opens with a tradition about a dove nesting in a general's war tent on the eve of his march on Alexandria around 641, and the order he gave his puzzled soldiers before riding off. You'll hear how that spared patch of riverbank later shaped his choice of capital and where he chose to raise a mosque, and what the first, humble version of that building was actually made of. Listen for how many centuries of governors and fires it took to reach the stone standing here today.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Mosque of Ibn Tulun
Ninth-century brick mosque with a spiral minaret and an outer courtyard ringed by stucco grille windows.
Al-Azhar Mosque
Fatimid-era mosque and the world's oldest continuously operating university.
Al-Hakim Mosque
Fatimid-era mosque with twin minarets encased in massive stone bastions, named for the caliph who vanished without a trace.
Al Emam El Hussein Mosque
Fatimid-era shrine and mosque said to hold a sacred relic, rebuilt with Gothic revival arches and Ottoman minarets.
Mosque of Muhammad Ali
Alabaster-clad Ottoman mosque atop a citadel, with twin soaring minarets and a French gift clock tower.
مسجد الظاهر برقوق
Fourteenth-century mosque, madrasa and mausoleum complex with a carved octagonal minaret on Cairo's medieval palace street.