The Mosque of al-Salih Tala'i () is a late Fatimid-era mosque built by the vizier Tala'i ibn Ruzzik in 1160. It is located south of Bab Zuweila, just outside the southern entrance to the old walled city of Cairo.
History
Construction and context
The mosque was commissioned by Tala'i ibn Ruzzik, the vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate, in 1160. Tala'i was one of the last powerful and competent viziers who maintained a level of stability in the Fatimid empire in its last decades. As the Fatimid Caliphate was abolished in 1171, this mosque is the last major Fatimid monument to have been built (and which still survives). Some of the mosque's original decorative elements continued to appear in post-Fatimid architecture in Cairo.
The Fatimid dynasty were Isma'ili Shi'a Muslims claiming descent from the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the mosque was originally built to be the resting place of the head of Husayn, the son of Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law Ali, who was slain at the Battle of Karbala in 680 and is revered as a martyr by Shi'as. His head was originally believed to be interred at Ascalon, but it was brought to Cairo in 1153 when Ascalon was threatened by the Crusaders. However, the head ended up being kept in a shrine at the Fatimid palace instead, the site of which later became the al-Hussein Mosque where the shrine remains today.
Mamluk restoration
The mosque was restored in the Mamluk era after an earthquake in 1303 which destroyed the minaret that stood over the front porch of the mosque. At this time bronze facings in the Mamluk style were added to the original main doors which had been carved in wood. Today the doors are replaced by replicas while the originals, featuring both the Mamluk bronze-faced and Fatimid wood-carved facades, are on display at Cairo's Museum of Islamic Art. The Mamluk restoration also added wooden mashrabiyya screens to the portico fronting the mosque, as still visible today. The minbar inside the mosque is also from the Mamluk period, dated to 1299–1300, and was a gift of the Mamluk amir Baktimur al-Jugandar and is now one of the oldest surviving minbars in Cairo.
Modern era and present day
The mosque was heavily restored in the early 20th century from near-ruin by the Comité de Conservation des Monuments de l'Art Arabe, but much of the original building survives. Today, the base of the mosque (along with the shops that once lined its exterior) is nearly two metres below the current street level, illustrating how much the street level has risen in the city since the 12th century.
Architecture
Exterior and general layout
The mosque was constructed on a raised platform whose base, at street level, had built-in alcoves on three sides (all except the qibla side) designed to host shops which contributed to the revenue of the mosque. It was thus the first "hanging" mosque in Cairo, which is to say a mosque where the prayer space is raised above street level. The mosque has three entrances: a front entrance to the northwest and two lateral entrances on the sides. The front (northwestern) entrance is fronted by a portico with five arches, a feature which was unique in Cairo (at least before the much later Ottoman period) and might have been intended either as a royal viewing platform for processions through Bab Zuweila or for some other ceremonial purpose if the head of Husayn had been buried here as intended. The ceiling directly behind or inside the portico is original and is one of the only ceiling of its kind preserved from the Fatimid period. As mentioned above, the wooden doors at the entrance of the mosque today are replicas of the originals, now in the Museum of Islamic Art. Originally, a minaret also rose above the entrance of the mosque, but was destroyed in the 1303 earthquake. A later minaret added during the Ottoman period was eventually removed during the 20th-century restoration. The visible stairwell that still leads to the roof today probably marks its former location.