Mosque of al-Zahir Baybars, Cairo

Yeomans notes the claim that al-Zahir Baybars put up some 269 buildings across the Mamluk empire, but all that survives of substance in Cairo is his mosque (1266-1269), standing ruined in the northern suburbs beyond Bab al-Nasr and Bab al-Futuh. ¹ It was the first major mosque built since al-Hakim's, which the Ayyubids had used as their main congregational mosque, preferring to refurbish rather than build anew. ¹ Baybars supervised its planning himself and organised the reuse of materials from Crusader buildings at Jaffa. ¹

Its long elevation with projecting gates and corner buttresses recalls the mosque of Mahdiya in Tunisia, while its plan with a large domed sanctuary suggests Seljuk influence. ² It is hypostyle: a courtyard with arcades three aisles deep on the north-east and south-west and two aisles deep on the north-west; the prayer hall is six aisles deep, parallel to the qibla, except three taller central aisles perpendicular to the mihrab leading to the dome. ² The wooden dome, of material salvaged from the Crusader citadel of Jaffa, covered nine bays on heavy piers, close in size to the mausoleum of al-Shafi'i; Yeomans counts it an innovation creating a discrete sanctuary as in Persian and Anatolian mosques, and Hillenbrand thinks it also served as a maqsura for the sultan. ²

Buttresses break the walls where the inner arcades meet them, with pointed windows between that once held stucco grilles; outer decoration is confined to the three gates and the stepped crenellation. ² The main gate is a cubic block projecting from the centre of the north-west wall, domed on pendentives, its arch with cushion voussoirs like Bab Zuwayla and the Holy Sepulchre; it formed the base of the minaret, whose rectangular stump survived into the time of the Description de l'Égypte. ² The side gates have a lobed arch and an arch with Romanesque-like chevrons. ² Yeomans sees its fortified severity as reflecting its builder's personality, and notes that Napoleon garrisoned troops in it. ^{2 3}