Sidi Yaqut Al-Arsh Mosque

Sidi Yaqut Al-Arsh mosque
مسجد سيدي ياقوط العرش
Religion
Affiliation	Islam
Location
Location	Alexandria
Country	Egypt
Architecture
Architect	Mario Rossi
Completed	1943

Sidi Yaqut Al-Arsh Mosque (Arabic: مسجد سيدي ياقوت العرش, romanized: Masjid Sīdī Yāqūt al-ʻarsh) is a mosque in Alexandria, Egypt. It is named after Yaqut Al Arsh, an imam who lived in Alexandria during the 13th century.

History

After Yaqut's death in 1331, he was buried next to the mosque of his teacher and father-in-law, the famous Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi, and next to what then used to be the zawiya of Al-Busiri (another disciple of Abu al-Abbas). In 1934, King Fouad I ordered the construction of a mosque square with a capacity of about 3,200 square metres, which would contain an expanded Abu al-Abbas mosque, a new mosque built on the site of Busiri's zawiya, and a new mosque built on Yaqut's tomb. All the buildings of the area were extensively renovated and built by the famous Italian architect Mario Rossi who was involved in planning the design and decor of the mosques until the completion of the entire project in 1943. In 2023, as part of a larger campaign to renovate the historic mosques in the area, the mosque underwent extensive repair works.

Construction

The mosque's entrance door is large and decorated with carved motifs. Inside, the mosque's ceiling rests on six octagonal mosaic columns with decorative bases and topped with Arabic-style capitals. There are three doors on the northern side of the mosque's courtyard. The middle door leads to the shrine, a square niche made of precious wood. The niche is located in the center of the room and contains the tomb of Yaqut al-Arsh.