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Article: Muhammad Ali Mosque
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa
- Author:
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MUHAMMAD ALI MOSQUE
mosque commissioned by muhammad ali for cairo's citadel.
By its size and hilltop location, the Muhammad Ali Mosque at the Citadel dominates the Cairo skyline. As early as 1820, Muhammad Ali of Egypt asked French architect Pascal Coste to draw up plans for mosques in the Citadel and at Alexandria. Coste's plan was not used, however, when construction began in the early 1830s, just as Muhammad Ali was challenging his Ottoman overlord by invading Syria. Turning his back on local Mamluk-influenced architectural styles that had persisted through three centuries of rule by the Ottoman Empire, Muhammad Ali symbolized his ambitions by appropriating the style of great ...