Sultan Hassan and Al-Rifai mosques: tickets, hours and what to see

The Mosque and Madrasa of Sultan Hassan and the Al-Rifai Mosque face each other across Salah al-Din Square, just below the Citadel, and you visit them together. Both are open every day of the week from 9am to 5pm, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. Egyptians, adults and students alike, go in free. Foreign visitors buy one area ticket that covers both mosques: EGP 220 for an adult and EGP 110 for a student.

Opening hours

The ministry lists the same hours for both mosques on every day from Sunday to Saturday: 9am to 5pm. It does not publish separate Ramadan hours for them, and both are working places of prayer, so time your visit outside the main prayer times if you can.

Ticket prices

The ticket is an area ticket: the ministry's page for each mosque says it also lets you into the other one, so you pay once for the pair. Salah al-Din Square itself, the open space between them, is free.

The Mosque and Madrasa of Sultan Hassan

The ministry calls it one of the largest and most architecturally striking mosques in Egypt. It was built for the Mamluk sultan Hassan ibn al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun between 757 AH (1356 AD) and 764 AH (1362 AD), at the end of Muhammad Ali Street.

Inside, an open courtyard with a fountain at its centre is surrounded by four iwans, vaulted halls open on one side. Doors in the four corners of the courtyard lead to four madrasas, the schools where the four Sunni schools of Islamic law were taught, each with its own court, iwan, student rooms and service rooms. The building has two Mamluk-style minarets.

Look for the carved stone and plaster decoration, including bands of inscriptions in Kufic script, the marble work of the mihrab in the main iwan and in the dome, the finely detailed marble minbar, and the reader's bench with its geometric star panels. Its closeness to the Citadel had a cost: rival Mamluk princes used its roof several times as a platform to fire on the fortress, and, like most of Cairo's Islamic monuments, it was restored and partly rebuilt in stages up to the 20th century.

The Al-Rifai Mosque

Al-Rifai was built to match its 14th-century neighbour, though it is far younger. A Fatimid mosque once stood on the site, later turned into the shrine of Sheikh Ali, known as Abu Sheibak, a grandson of Imam Ahmad al-Rifai, founder of the Rifai Sufi order. The imam is not buried here, but the mosque took his name and still hosts a yearly celebration of his birth.

Hoshiyar Hanim, mother of Khedive Ismail, bought the land around the shrine and gave the design to the architect Hussein Pasha Fahmi in 1286 AH (1869 AD), with a burial place for the family of Muhammad Ali. Building materials, including Italian marble, were brought from Europe. Work stopped for years, and Khedive Abbas Helmi II opened the finished mosque in 1330 AH (1912 AD). The ministry notes it was the first Islamic monument in Egypt built with cement.

One part of the mosque is for prayer; the other holds the royal tombs. Khedive Ismail and his mother, King Fuad I and King Farouk, the last two rulers of the Muhammad Ali dynasty, are buried here, and so is Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, who died in 1980. Take in the carved outer walls, the huge columns at the main gate and the two slender minarets.

Salah al-Din Square and the Citadel

The square, also called Maydan al-Qal'a (Citadel Square), is one of Cairo's most important historic squares and has had other names, among them the Black Square and al-Rumayla Square. Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun restored it as a polo ground, and it was used for Eid prayers, for receiving ambassadors and for parades. It looks onto the Citadel of Salah al-Din through Bab al-Azab, the Mahmudiyya Mosque and the two mosques. Streets lead off it to Souq al-Silah, al-Imam al-Shafi'i and al-Qadam, which runs to the mosque and shrine of Sayyida Nafisa. With the Citadel above the square, the two make a natural half-day together; it has its own ticket.

Common questions

Do Egyptians pay? No. The ministry lists the entry as free for Egyptian adults and students.

Is it one ticket or two? One. The foreigners' area ticket covers both Sultan Hassan and Al-Rifai.

When is the best time to go? Any day between 9am and 5pm. Mornings are quieter, and both mosques close at 5pm, so do not arrive late in the afternoon. Prices can change, so expect the ticket window to have the final word.