The Suleiman Pasha Al-Khadim Mosque, also known as the Sariyat Al-Gabal Mosque, was officially inaugurated on Saturday, 16 September, after five years of being closed to the public for restoration work. Situated in the Salah Al Din Citadel in Cairo, the historic mosque was constructed in 1528 under the patronage of the Ottoman governor of Egypt, Suleiman Pasha Al-Khadim. The inauguration ceremony was presided over by Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Ahmed Issa, and attended by Cairo Governor, Khaled Abdel-Aal; Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), Mostafa Waziri; and Vice-Governor of Cairo, Gihan Abdel-Moneim. The restoration project was initiated in 2018 and was successfully completed with approximately EGP 5 million (USD 161,000), as reported by the Ministry. Egypt’s First Ottoman-Style Mosque The Sariyat Al-Gabal Mosque was built upon the remains of a former Fatimid mosque constructed in 1140. During the Ottoman period, the mosque served the Janissaries, an elite unit of the Ottoman armies that conquered Egypt in 1517. Sariyat Al-Gabal is renowned as Egypt’s earliest example of Ottoman-style mosque architecture, characterized by its domes, semi-domes, pencil-shaped minarets, and ceramic tiling. The mosque consists of a prayer…
Egypt’s Historic Suleiman Pasha Mosque Reopens After Five-Year Restoration
September 20, 2023
