El-Aqmar Mosque (Gray Mosque)
Within
a brass and copper merchant's district one finds the El-Aqmar, or Gray Mosque,
built in 1125. It is one of the few surviving examples of Fatimid architecture.
The interior is almost original, though the minaret is not. Its name, meaning
moonlit, is derived from the pale stone used in its construction. The Fatimids,
intending a long rule, abandoned the earlier use of brick and stucco in
favor of stone. Hence, the structure is innovative as one of the first to
employ a stone facade, and the stalactite decorations in recesses on either
side of the entrance are the earliest examples of this popular style which
would be used extensively by the later Mamelukes. Above the entrance there
is a typical Fatimid keel-arch with niche ribbing, also used here for the
first time, with a very fine medallion set into the niche. Again, we find
the typical structure such that the exterior facade aligns with that of
its physical world, while the interior reflects the religious world, using
wall thickness to align the qibla wall with the direction of Mecca.