Mosque Exterior Dome
- Description:
- Mosque Exterior Dome
- Physical Description:
- 6 photographs and digital image
- Date Created:
- June 3, 2008
- Collection:
- Muqashqish Collection
- Series:
- Dome
- Location:
- Luxor, Egypt
- Time Period:
- Khedivate Egypt (AD 1800-1922)
- Topic:
- Modern structures in historic sites and Islamic architecture
- Cultural Object:
- Domes, Domes, and Domes
- Fieldwork activities:
- personnel, personnel, and personnel
- Genre:
- color photographs
- Creative Commons License:
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
- Project History:
- A site of significance in the history of Luxor city, the mosque of Abu ‘Ali Isma’il al- Muqashqish, as well as the nearby Luxor Police Station, was documented by the office of Hampikian-Ibrashy under the auspices of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE). This was in response to plans to tear down both these structures to build the Avenue of the Sphinxes. Architects Nairy Hampikian & May El-Ibrashi documented the sites extensively through photo, manual, and digital architectural documentation methods. This was made possible with the support of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (formerly the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities).
- Funding Agency:
- The documentation of the Muqashqish Mosque and Luxor Police station was made possible with funding by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Grant No. 263-A-00-04-00018-00 and administered by Egyptian Antiquities Conservation Project (EAC) of the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE).
- Abstract:
- al-Muqashqish mosque also played an essential role in contemporary life in Luxor city. People visited the shrine for its spiritual attributes, filling containers in the alcove of the dome with oil and then smearing it on themselves in the belief that it will heal them. In true Luxor tradition, visitors also hung model boats from the shrine’s ceiling. Besides its spiritual significance, the mosque’s central location in Luxor city made it an extremely popular prayer spot among the traders working in the square as well as a cool refuge from the sweltering heat of the city during the afternoon. and The building of al-Muqashqish mosque happened over several phases, many of which were fairly modern. The oldest sections of the building seem to be the domed shrine and the minaret while the prayer hall appears to be the result of at least three building phases. There is no verifiable information as to who constructed the mosque of Al Muqashqish in its earliest versions. However, according to popular accounts, the current structure was built by one of Luxor’s most famous Coptic figures, Tawfiq Andraws Pasha (1893 – 1935), as part of an endowment of 100 feddans on the upkeep of religious buildings in Luxor to be split equally between Christian and Muslim sites.