Restoration of the mosque of Al-Zahir Baybars

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

An ambitious restoration project aimed at returning the mosque of Al-Zahir Baybars to its original glory was launched this week. Nevine El-Aref reports on the new project by the Ministry of Culture and the Kazakhstan government.

At Al-Dahir square in north Cairo stands the lofty mosque of Al-Zahir Baybars, enclosed in a square stone wall decorated at its top with a row of crenellation and four towers to fortify its exterior corners.

Although it is the only surviving edifice of the mediaeval city in the Hussaniya district, once one of Cairo's most prestigious areas and deeply rooted in Islamic history, the Zahir Baybars mosque is suffering from severe negligence and deterioration.

Since it was constructed in 1267 under the supervision of Baybars's top advisers Atabeg Fariseddin Aqtai and Bahaaeddin Ali Ibn Hinna for Friday prayer with a Hanafi Khatib, the mosque flourished and became the first congregational mosque to be built in Cairo after the elimination of the Shafi' monopoly on jurisprudence, which restricted Friday prayer to a single congregational mosque.