page_title: Mosque of Ibn Tulun
section_title: Minaret
hierarchical_section_title: Mosque of Ibn Tulun / Construction history / Minaret
caption_attribution_description: English: This minaret, with its only remaining original element being the square base, communicates with the mosque by way of a passage. Its second story is cylindrical which is in tern surmounted by later Mumluk restorations in stone. The original minaret was built of brick. This is Cairo's only minaret with a spiraling external staircase and the overall structure is unique in Egypt.
context_page_description: The Mosque of Ibn Tulun is located in Cairo, Egypt. It is the oldest mosque in Egypt as well as the whole of Africa surviving in its full original form, and is the largest mosque in Cairo in terms of land area. Since Ibn Tulun Mosque has much open space, it boasts both sunlight and shadows. It is built around an open square courtyard which allows natural light to travel through. Ibn Tulun Mosque features Samarra style - its decorations being created from carved stucco and wood. This mosque is a popular tourist attraction.
context_section_description: There is significant controversy over the date of construction of the minaret, which features a helical outer staircase. It is also told that using these stairs one can climb up on a horse. Legend has it that Ibn Tulun himself was accidentally responsible for the design of the structure: supposedly while sitting with his officials, he absentmindedly wound a piece of parchment around his finger. When someone asked him what he was doing, he responded, embarrassed, that he was designing his minaret. Many of the architectural features, however, point to a later construction, in particular the way in which the minaret does not connect well with the main mosque structure, something that would have been averted had the minaret and mosque been built at the same time. Architectural historian Doris Behrens-Abouseif asserts that Sultan Lajin, who restored the mosque in 1296, was responsible for the construction of the current minaret.
  The minaret shows influences from both the Lighthouse of Alexandria and the famous minaret in Samarra.
  It is built entirely of well-fired red brick, plaster, and carved stucco. Stucco is cement-based plaster that is mixed on-site and applied wet which hardens to a very dense solid. The mosque is also built from this material. The staircase extends up to the tower 170 feet in height.
caption: It is modeled after the minarets of Samarra, with a spiral staircase around the outside.
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