Cairo - El-Azhar Mosque 
Turning right at the Sharia Gohan el-Qaid intersection, we soon come into Shari el-Azhar, which runs east from the Midan el-Ataba to the square in front of the El-Azhar Mosque. Turning left, we soon reach that square, in which there are many Arabic bookshops.
The El-Azhar Mosque (the "most blooming"), the finest building of the Fatimid period, was completed in 972 by Gohar, and in 988 was given the status of a university by Caliph El-Aziz.
The El-Azhar Mosque (the "most blooming"), the finest building of the Fatimid period, was completed in 972 by Gohar, and in 988 was given the status of a university by Caliph El-Aziz.
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It was rebuilt after destruction by an earthquake in 1303, and thereafter the rulers and great ones of Egypt including the wealthy Abd el-Rahman Kihya in the 18th C. and Said Pasha, Taufiq and Abbas II in more recent times emulated one another in maintaining and enlarging this venerable building. The rectangular ground plan of the original building is easily recognizable, however, in spite of later additions and alterations. The El-Azhar University is still the leading educational center of the Islamic World.
Related Attractions
El-Azhar Mosque El-Taibarsiya Medrese
The main entrance is the Babel-Muzayyini or "Gate of the Barbers", on the northwest side of the building, adjoining the neo Arab facade built by Abbas II. This leads into a small forecourt, on the right of which is the El-Taibarsiya Medrese, with a fine mihrab (prayer niche) of 1309, and on the left the 14th century.
El-Aqbughawiya Medrese
El-Aqbughawiya Medrese, now a library (60,000 volumes, 15,000 manuscripts). Then through a handsome doorway into the Main Court (Sahn), with five minarets rearing above it. Round the court runs an arcade (restored by Taufiq) with keeled arches of Persian type, decorated with shallow niches and medallions and crowned by crenelations. The liwans on the northeast and southwest sides of the court are used as sleeping and working apartments for students (riwak), distributed according to the countries or provinces from which they come. Adjoining the north liwan is the Court of Ablutions.
El-Azhar Mosque Main Liwan
The Main Liwan or Sanctuary on the southeast side of the court, with 140 marble columns (100 of them antique) and an area of almost 3,600 sq. yd/3,000 sq. m, is the principal lecture hall. The lower front half, with four much restored rows of arcading, is part of the original building; the higher rear part, with two prayer niches, was added by Abd el-Rahman.
