The Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan, Cairo

The Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan stands below the Citadel in Cairo. It was built between 1356 and 1363 for the Mamluk sultan an-Nasir Hasan, and it is both a mosque and a madrasa, a school of Islamic law. Its footprint is given as about 7,900 square metres, which makes it one of the largest religious buildings of medieval Cairo.

Its tallest surviving minaret is given as about 81.6 metres in one source. The courtyard is ringed by four iwans, vaulted halls open on one side, and the iwan facing Mecca is much larger than the other three.

Scale is the first thing you notice. The walls are high and plain from the street, and the courtyard inside opens out in contrast.

The interior rewards a long look: calligraphic friezes, carved stone and plaster, and tall domed spaces lit from above.

It sits across from the Al-Rifa'i Mosque, which was built much later, so the two together form one of the best-known silhouettes in Cairo when seen from the Citadel.

Construction ran from 1356 to 1363, and an inscription names Muhammad ibn Biylik al-Muhsini as the supervisor of the work. Work continued after the sultan himself was killed.

Four minarets were planned and only three were built. A collapse in 1361 killed many people, with sources giving a figure of around three hundred, and the fourth minaret was abandoned.

The four iwans are reported to have been dedicated to the teaching of the four main schools of Sunni law, which is why the complex is called a madrasa as well as a mosque.

• A mosque and madrasa of 1356 to 1363 with a courtyard ringed by four iwans
• A minaret of about 80 metres, among the tallest in medieval Cairo
• Calligraphic friezes and domed interior spaces
• The view of the complex from the Citadel, next to the Al-Rifa'i Mosque