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Above The serene Great Mosque of ibn Tulun, built in the 9th century, still stands in bustling modern Cairo. From the side arcades, the fountain pavilion built in 1296 by Sultan Lajin during his restoration of the mosque acts as the focus point.
The lost city of al-Qata’i‘
Just decades after it was founded, ibn Tulun’s capital al-Qata’i‘ was razed to the ground. The Great Mosque of ibn Tulun, the oldest mosque in Africa to survive in its original form, still stands in Cairo today, and through its magnificent architecture offers a chance to encounter the former glory of al-Qata’i‘. Nigel Fletcher-Jones is our guide to this lost city.
There are few places within the bustling metropolis of modern Cairo that might be described as serene, but, of those that are, the most deserving of the description is the Great Mosque built by Ahmad ibn Tūlūn (ibn Tulun; AD 835-884) as part of his short-lived city al-Qata’i‘, once capital of an independent Egyptian state. By historical account, al-Qata’i‘ (‘The Quarters’, reflecting the division of the city among groups of ibn Tulun’s followers and army contingents) contained some of the finest buildings to have been constructed in Egypt for centuries. Most were quickly destroyed, but the exquisitely decorated Great Mosque survives, and it stands as a manifestation of ibn Tu
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