Al-Azhar Mosque

Al-Azhar Mosque stands in the historic heart of Islamic Cairo, across the road from the Khan el-Khalili bazaar area. The Fatimid general Jawhar al-Siqilli began building it in 970, soon after founding the city of Cairo, and the first Friday prayers were held in 972.

The mosque became a centre of learning almost from the start, and Al-Azhar University grew out of its teaching circles. Today it is one of the most important institutions of Sunni scholarship, teaching theology and Islamic law, and it is often described as one of the oldest continuously operating universities in the world.

Rulers over the following thousand years added to the building, so it mixes several periods. The marble courtyard is framed by keel-shaped arches with stucco decoration largely from a 12th-century Fatimid refurbishment. The large hypostyle prayer hall rests on rows of columns, many reused from earlier buildings. Five minarets rise above the complex, including the Aqbugha minaret, the minaret of Sultan Qaytbay from the late 15th century and the double-topped minaret of Sultan al-Ghuri. The 18th-century Gate of the Barbers, Bab al-Muzayinin, was built under Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda.

A major restoration funded by Saudi Arabia was completed in 2018. The mosque is part of the Historic Cairo World Heritage Site, inscribed by UNESCO in 1979.

Visitors are generally welcome outside prayer times, with no fixed ticket. Shoes are removed at the entrance, and modest clothing is expected, with women asked to cover their hair. The mosque is an easy walk from Khan el-Khalili and Al-Muizz Street.

What can you see inside Al-Azhar?

Al-Azhar Mosque covers about 15,600 square metres and holds up to 20,000 worshippers. Beyond the main courtyard, two Mamluk-era madrasas built into the complex have the finest decoration: the Madrasa al-Aqbughawiyya of 1339 and the Madrasa al-Taybarsiyya, which keeps its polychrome mihrab with glass mosaics of pomegranate trees.

The original Fatimid mihrab was uncovered in 1933, and the Quranic inscriptions in its conch are the only decoration that can be traced with certainty to the Fatimid builders. The Madrasa Gawhariyya, added in 1440, holds the tomb of the treasurer Gawhar al-Qanaqba'i. In the 18th century Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda built three gates, Bab al-Muzayinin, Bab al-Sa'ayida and Bab al-Shurba, and a southern prayer hall that roughly doubled the space for prayer.

Students lived in riwaqs, residential halls grouped by home region, and the three-storey Riwaq al-Abbasi in neo-Mamluk style was completed in 1901 under Khedive Abbas Hilmi II. The mosque was also a centre of resistance. When Napoleon's army held Cairo in 1798, a revolt broke out from Al-Azhar on 21 October, French guns shelled it from the Citadel, and troops ransacked the student quarters and libraries. After the assassination of General Kléber in 1800 the mosque stayed closed until August 1801.