Masjid al-Rifa'i, Cairo, Egypt
Image details
Contributor:
B.O'Kane / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
EB39PNFile size:
47.5 MB (2 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
4464 x 3721 px | 37.8 x 31.5 cm | 14.9 x 12.4 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
16 November 2010Location:
Cairo, EgyptMore information:
In 1869 Husayn Fahmi Pasha al-mi'mar (the architect), a prince from the royal family who went to France in 1840 as part of Muhammad 'Ali's fifth and largest educational mission, was commissioned by Khushyar Khanim, mother of Khedive Isma'il, to replace the zawiya of al-Rifa'i and its revered mausolea with a dynastic mosque that would house, in addition to the Sufi relics, the tombs of the royal family. However, he died during the first phase of construction, which came to a complete halt shortly after the abdication of Khedive Isma'il in 1880. Work was ordered resumed in 1905 by 'Abbas Hilmi II, who entrusted Max Herz Bey, the Hungarian architect in charge of the Committee for the Conservation of Arab Monuments in Cairo, to complete the mosque. Herz was aided by the Italian architect Carlo Virgilio Silvagni, and advised by 'Ali Pasha Mubarak, the Minister of Public Works under Khedive Isma'il. The mosque was completed in 1912.