Al-Rifa’i Mosque
Salah al-Din Square, Citadel area, Cairo, Egypt
Al-Rifa’i Mosque stands on Salah al-Din Square beside the fourteenth-century Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hasan, but it is not a duplicate stop. The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities identifies it as a nineteenth-century project commissioned by Hoshiyar Hanim, mother of Khedive Ismail, and notes that work was completed in 1912 during the reign of Khedive Abbas Helmi II. The same official page explains that the site incorporates an older shrine tradition associated with Ali Abu Sheibak and that the finished building was designed to face its celebrated medieval neighbour across Citadel Square. For visitors, that means a monument that rewards close attention in its own right rather than serving only as an architectural companion piece. Inside, the mosque combines active religious space with dynastic memorial functions. The ministry records burials here for members of the Muhammad Ali family, including Khedive Ismail, Hoshiyar Kadin, Kings Fuad I and Farouk, as well as Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. It also notes imported materials including Italian marble and highlights the use of cement as an early marker of modern construction in an Egyptian Islamic monument. Official opening hours are listed daily from 09:00 to 17:00, and the foreign visitor ticket is shown as a combined admission covering both Al-Rifa’i and Sultan Hasan.