Sultan Hassan Mosque
The Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan is a massive Mameluke
era mosque and madrassa, located near the Citadel in Cairo. The mosque was, for
example, designed to include schools for all four of the Sunni schools of
thought:Shafi’i, Maliki, Hanafi and Hanbali. Several unique features about the
mosque should also be noted. Al-Maqrizi noted that the great dome that was not
equaled in Egypt, Syria, the Maghreb, or Yemen. Despite the thickness of the
mausoleum walls, the dome was made of wood. The mosque's dome was of an
uncommon shape, that of an egg. The positioning of the mausoleum between two
minarets was quite novel. Four minarets were planned, but they were never
completed. This was an exceptional number for a mosque. The design of the twin
portal minarets was uncommon as was the gigantic size of the mosque. The mosque
is the only instance of chinoiserie in Mameluke architecture. The setup of the
mosque was novel as well. The mausoleum was placed directly behind the prayer
hall. This might have been thought profane, but it was not at the time.