This famous mosque is within the Citadel complex is also called the Alabaster Mosque as the lower 38 feet of the mosque and forecourt walls are faced with alabaster. The mosque was commissioned by Muhammad Ali Pasha, ruler of Egypt from 1805 to 1849 in memory of his son, Tusun Pasha who died in 1816. The mosque was based on the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul and completed in 1848. The Ottoman style mosque is the largest mosque constructed in the first half of the 19^th century. It has a distinct silhouette with twin minarets and elegant cascading domes which can be seen from across the city thanks to the Citadel’s elevated position.

When Ottoman ruler Muhammad Ali took over Cairo he had the Citadel’s Mumluk structures destroyed and the entire complex rebuilt including the mosque. At the time Ottoman law allowed only the sultan to build mosques with more than one minaret; when Muhammad Ali had his Cairo mosque built with two 82 meter high minarets he was sending a message to the Ottoman rulers in Istanbul that he was not planning on being submissive to their authority. The mosque has an intricately decorated ceiling, hanging globe lamps and a large cavernous interior. Some elements of the interior design reflect French rococo influences. The mihrab and two minbars (pulpits) are unique in having old scalloped edges and one of the pulpits is covered in alabaster while the other is in the Art Nouveau style. As you enter the mosque notice the white marble monument to the right where Muhammad Ali is buried. In the mosque courtyard there is an ablution fountain and a clock which was gifted to the Ottomans of Cairo by the French in exchange for the obelisk which now stands in Paris’s Place de la Concorde.