Al-Hakim Mosque opens after renovation

Al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah Mosque in Egypt, Cairo, has regained its glamour after six years of restoration and renovation.

With its marvelous marble interiors and courtyards, the mosque is located in Al-Muizz li-Din Allah al-Fatimi street, a few steps from Bab al-Futuh.

Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Ahmed Issa, Minister of Religious Endowments, Mokhtar Gomaa, and Cairo Governor Khaled Abdel-Aal have re-opened the mosque after six years of it being shut down for renovation.

The mosque is located in a highly populated area, and has suffered for years from environmental dangers such as air pollution, high subsoil water level, wall cracks, high level of humidity, and leakage from the Madiaa fountain.

The secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), Moustafa Waziri, said that the restoration process was carried out by the latest scientific methods.

“Every effort was made to ensure that all the original architectural features were retained,” he said.

 

Walls have been reinforced and masonry cleaned and desalinated. In addition to cleaning and restoration of wooden ceilings, mashrabiya windows, arcades, paintings, fine metal ornaments, and engravings.

 

Waziri also said that the restoration helped make sure that important monuments are preserved and will live on to future generations.

The works was carried out by SCA and the Bohra sect.

The mosque is the fourth oldest mosque in Egypt, as well as the second largest one after the Mosque of Ibn Tulun.

Construction of the mosque began in 990 CE by Al-Hakim’s father, Fatimid Caliph Al-Aziz Bi-Allah. However, he died before the mosque was fully constructed and left it for his son to finish in 1013 CE.