Masjid al-Amir Yusuf Agha al-HinnCairo, Egypt
The Mosque of Yusuf Agha al-Hinn was built by a Mamluk amir or bey of Circassian origin in 1625. Except for the Ottoman minaret, this free-standing mosque follows Mamluk traditions both in its planning and decoration. It displays the typical components of a Mamluk mosque such as a portal, sabil-kuttab, and an interior adopting the qa'a configuration. It also had a domed mausoleum, but it no longer exists. The anachronistic, independent sabil-kuttab, built contiguous to the northwestern corner of the mosque in 1938, is a replica of the sabil-kuttab of 'Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda built in 1744. A large mashrabiyya occupies the whole upper part of the northwest iwan and overlooked the canal before it was filled and replaced by a street. Providing mashrabiyyas for landscape views was a practice common in domestic architecture of the period.
Sources:
Al-Husayni, Mahmud H. al-Asbilah al-'Uthmaniyya bi-madinat al-Qahira 1517-1798. Cairo: Maktabat Madbuli, 1988.
Behrens-Abouseif, Doris. Islamic Architecture in Cairo. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1989.
Jarrar, Sabri, András Riedlmayer, and Jeffrey B. Spurr. Resources for the Study of Islamic Architecture. Cambridge, MA: Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, 1994.
The Mosque of Yusuf Agha al-Hinn was built by a Mamluk amir or bey of Circassian origin in 1625. Except for the Ottoman minaret, this free-standing mosque follows Mamluk traditions both in its planning and decoration. It displays the typical components of a Mamluk mosque such as a portal, sabil-kuttab, and an interior adopting the qa'a configuration. It also had a domed mausoleum, but it no longer exists. The anachronistic, independent sabil-kuttab, built contiguous to the northwestern corner of the mosque in 1938, is a replica of the sabil-kuttab of 'Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda built in 1744. A large mashrabiyya occupies the whole upper part of the northwest iwan and overlooked the canal before it was filled and replaced by a street. Providing mashrabiyyas for landscape views was a practice common in domestic architecture of the period.
Sources:
Al-Husayni, Mahmud H. al-Asbilah al-'Uthmaniyya bi-madinat al-Qahira 1517-1798. Cairo: Maktabat Madbuli, 1988.
Behrens-Abouseif, Doris. Islamic Architecture in Cairo. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1989.
Jarrar, Sabri, András Riedlmayer, and Jeffrey B. Spurr. Resources for the Study of Islamic Architecture. Cambridge, MA: Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, 1994.