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The Mosques of Cairo 165
enter the grand mosque of El-Moayyad, built in 1422, so
close to the Bab-es-Zuweyla gate, the centre of ancient
Cairo, that its minarets were reared on the two old towers
of the gate.
El-Moayyad is as glorious as a cathedral. It is of great
size. Its lofty, battlemented walls, designed to rival Sultan
Hassan's, and exquisitively decorated in Saracen fashion
with sunken panels, run for many feet along the busy
thoroughfare of the Sukkariya.
Like Sultan Hassan's mosque, too, it has a noble portal
at the head of a marble stairway, and its bronze gates
taken from that mosque are the finest in Cairo. The
entrance is on the east side close to the founder's tomb,
which is under a superb dome, but has no regular tombchamber.
When I was there last purple-robed professors
were addressing little classes all round the tomb. The
nobility and dignity of these first chambers is seldom
properly appreciated. Every visitor hurries on to the
splendid coup dceil formed by the great Itivdn, with its vast
and rich screen looking across the glittering courtyard to
the garden. Alone of all the mosques of Cairo, El-Moayyad
has a garden as large as a London square and planted
with gay flowers, soaring palms, and eucalyptus. As a
garden, in a land where anything will grow with Eden
richness by the free use of water, it would not be worth
mentioning were it not that it is the only real garden in
a Cairo mosque. Very restful to the eye, against the blaze
of marbles.
El-Moayyad, with its open court and garden, is absolutely
lovely inside. It is distinguished by the immense screen of
massively carved dark wood which runs the entire length of its
lkvd?i, and by the richness of its decoration ; it has a glorious
painted roof; the marble panelling and platre ajoure and
arabesques of its long eastern wall are superb. The viimbar
is as richly inlaid as an Indian workbox ; the milwab stands
between glorious antique porphyry columns ;
the cool marbles
of the main columns and dikka make a refreshing note
and perhaps the crowning touch is the grand gilt lettering
;