Citadel of Salah El Din
The citadel of Salah El Din is the seat of government and major Headquarters of Salah El Din, medieval fortress, with large imposing gateways, towers and high defending walls
The Citadel was fortified by the Ayyubid ruler Salah al-Din to protect them from Crusaders, Saladin set out to build a wall surround both Cairo and Fustat. Built on a promontory beneath the Muqattam Hill.
The citadel has three main areas: the main fortress and eastern walls, which were built by the great Salahedin El-Ayyoubi in 1176, the southern enclosure with 19th century walls and the lower enclosure extending down the western face of the hill.
The Citadel consists of the Military Museum, the Police Museum, the Royal Carriages Museum, and the Qaser El Gawhara Museum, Mamluk Mosque of El Nasser Mohamed, and the small wonderful Mosque of Suleiman Pasha El Khadim, amazing Mohamed Ali Mosque, and The Bir Yusuf (Salah ad-Din's Well) was dug in order to supply the occupants of the fortress with water.
There is a legend saying that Salah El-Din has chosen the citadel location because of its healthy air, he was hanging pieces of meat up all around Cairo everywhere, and all the meat spoiled within a day, except the Citadel area where it remained fresh for several days, so salah El din decided to build the citadel at its current location.
Mohamed Ali Mosque:
Mohamed Ali Mosque also called (Alabaster) Mosque, because of the extensive use of this fine material "Alabaster" came from Beni Suef. It stands proudly on the highest point inside the courtyard of the Citadel of Saladin, Designed by the Greek architect Yussuf Bushnaq, began in 1830 A.D, in the Ottoman style by Mohammad Ali Pasha.
The mosque consits of two sections:
The Western Section, called the "Sahn" "or "Courtyard".
The mosque was built with a central dome surrounded by four small and four semicircular domes,Two elegant cylindrical minarets of Turkish type with two balconies and conical caps are situated on the western side of the mosque, and rise to 82 meters.
there is a brass clock tower in the middle of the northwestern riwak, which was presented to Muhammad Ali by King Louis Philippe of Francein 1845. The clock was reciprocated with the obelisk of Luxor now standing in Place de la Concorde in Paris.
The Eastern Section called "Beit al Salah" or "House of Prayer".,
The eastern section is the part that was dedicated to prayer. It is square in shape, each side measure 41m, and has a roof with a central dome (52m in height) resting on four large arches supported by massive piers. Surrounding the big central dome there are four half domes, while there are four more small domes covering the corners.
The marble mihrab is covered by a half-dome at the lower level. The domes are pointed and covered with medallions and other motifs. The interior dome is impressive because of its size and shape, There are 6 medallions around the dome, which include the names of Allah (God) and Mohamed (the Prophet), as well as the names of the four rightly guided Caliphs, namely Abou Bakr, Omar, Othman, and Ali.
