Cairo, June 6 (BNA): A 13th-century mosque in disrepair after being used over the years as a soap factory, slaughterhouse and fortress reopened in Cairo on Monday after undergoing a lengthy restoration.
Al-Zahir Baybars Mosque, built under Mamluk rule in 1268, sprawls over three acres north of central Cairo, making it the third largest mosque in Egypt, according to Reuters.
Tariq Muhammad al-Buhairi, who supervised the restoration work, said that the mosque underwent a mechanical and chemical restoration process to restore it to its original condition.
“Some parts were destroyed and some were dismantled because they were structurally unsuitable to remain in the mosque,” he added.
“But we were very careful, even in the reconstruction process, to work according to the correct archaeological method,” he added.
The restoration, which cost $7.68 million, was jointly funded by Kazakhstan and began in 2007.
For 225 years, the mosque was either closed, abandoned, or operated for non-religious purposes that contributed to its ruin.
During Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt, it was used as a military fortress, and then under Ottoman rule in the 19th century as a soap factory. Later, when the British invaded Egypt in 1882, it was used as a slaughterhouse.
Al-Zahir Baybars was a prominent figure in the history of Egypt, who is credited with establishing the Mamluk rule in Egypt, which extended for three centuries until 1517.
HF