The most remarkable place in the old city centre of Alexandria is a group of beautiful mosques in the Anfushi area. This neighborhood is a nowadays a very poor area, but still conserves some of the taste of its great past. In this alleyway i found food stalls, parked carretas and children playing football with a can, the Sidi Yakout El-Arsh mosque stands bright white in the background:
In this picture, the contrast is of other nature. I heard once that the aspirations and power of a civilization can be analyzed by finding the tallest buildings in a city...nowadays are not cathedrals, lighthouses or minarets anymore...
The domes in the Yakout mosque are extremely pretty with their intricate geometrical patterns, the openings that accentuate the verticallity and the typical little spheres topping them:
In here the mosque from the side and the classic stall selling tea and coffee:
In the same square the Sharaf al-Din al-Busiri Mosque and mausoleum can be found. It is a tiny but charming little mosque, were one of the great sufi characters is buried. The long complete name of this man was: Sharafud´-dini Muhammad bin Sa´idi bin Hammadi bin Muhsini bin Sanhaji as-Sanhaji al-Busiri...Al-Busiri A.D.) was an Egyptian of Berber Maghrebi (Moroccan) ascendants from a poor family, who excelled as calligrapher, traditionalist and sufi poet. An interesting fact is that he memorised the whole Holy Qur2an at the age of 13 (!!!). This was the first mosque in Alexandria that i entered; the tomb is said to have el-Barakah (blessing) and that motivates mothers with their little children to visit the highly decorated burial place. Architecturally, the most remarkable elements of this building are the lovely interior marble patio and the silver domes:
The mosque of Abu Abbas al-Mursi occupies the central place in the square. This mosque constructed in 1775 by Algerians, built over the tomb of the Andalusian saint and mystic, Sheikh Shehab El Din Abu El Abbas Ahmed Ibn Umar Ibn Mohamed Al Ansary El Mursi, who joined and then lead the Shadhali Tariqa (Tariqa is a brotherhood, or of school of thought). Al-Mursi ( A.D.) was born in Murcia (as his name indicates) and lived in Seville with his wealthy family working in the trading business. With 23 years he moved to Tunisia where he met El Sheikh Abu El Hassan El Shazly and accompanied him to Alexandria. Here, he stayed as a Muslim teacher for 43 years until his death and was widely regarded for his commitment to help the less favoured in society. The building itself has a very long history, beginning just with the tomb, it was successively enlarged and repaired throughout the centuries until the completion of the final building in the aforementioned date by Sheikh Abu el Hassan El Maghreby. The last reconstruction was done in 1943 by King Farouk, when the mosque was decorated in the Ayyubid style, the popular style at the time of the emigration of Al-Mursi. The shining has been (and still is) visited by many pilgrims from North Africa in their way to Mecca for centuries.
In here the side view of the Al-Mursi mosque from the underground commercial area in the centre of the square:
In here the side view of the Al-Mursi mosque from the underground commercial area in the centre of the square:
A close up from the back entrance:
In here the front entrance, where it can be read: "Do not forget Allah", and locals sell some of the typical made in china stuff:
A detail of the pattern of one of the windows:
In here the balcona with Mashrabiya on the side:
And how not? a cat guards the entrance to the toilet of the Mosque :)
