Egypt's Islamic Cultural Center

Egypt's Islamic Cultural Center, including Masjid Misr or the Grand Mosque, is a religious and architectural landmark located in the New Administrative Capital in Cairo Governorate, Egypt. The center covers an area of 467,000 square meters, and can accommodate 137,000 people.

At its completion, the cultural center received three international certificates from the Guinness World Records. They included the world's largest pulpit handcrafted from wood and standing at 16.6 meters in height, and the chandelier won two titles as the world's largest with a diameter of 22 meters, and the heaviest at a weight of 50 tons.

History

In 2015, the concept for Egypt's purpose-built New Administrative Capital was introduced. In 2019, the first major religious buildings serving the new city, the Al-Fattah al-Aleem Mosque and a Coptic Orthodox cathedral, were completed. Early in 2021, plans to build Masjid Misr, a larger mosque, were announced, and this project was finished in 2022. Egypt's president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi formally launched the Islamic Cultural Centre in March 2023.

Architecture

Situated near the Presidential Axis, Route 11, and People's Square to the north, the center is located in the Governmental District. It is situated on a plateau that is 24 meters high and has the Mohamed Bin Zayed Northern Road as its southern boundary. The Grand Mosque, a library, an Islamic museum, a conference center, ceremonial halls, classrooms, retail stores, and a seven-story parking structure with room for 3,000 cars are all part of the complex.

Egypt's Grand Mosque draws influence from the scenery of the Nile Delta to combine modern design features with traditional Islamic architectural aspects. The outside design of the mosque is modeled after a lotus blossom in bloom, signifying purity and the advancement of spirituality. Inside are calligraphy, intricate geometric designs, and other elements of Islamic creative culture.

The mosque is flanked by two minarets that rise 140 meters above the top courtyard, and it contains six halls, including the central prayer hall. The steel center dome measures 29.5 meters in diameter. This mosque broke three records: it features the largest chandelier in the world, measuring 22 meters in diameter, the heaviest chandelier, weighing 24,300 kg, and the tallest pulpit in the world, standing at 16.6 meters. With 12,000 seats in the main prayer hall, 40,000 in the upper hall, and 55,000 in the basement hall, the 19,000 square meter mosque can hold 107,000 worshipers.

The mosque has two levels, with three main entrances and a fourth for services. The first level is 20 meters high, while the second level reaches the pinnacle of the dome at 57 meters. There are separate domes for the east and west halls as well. The mosque's secondary and upper courtyards are connected by service buildings and a commercial culture center. The mosque is surrounded by 30-thousand square meters of white marble. There are two arcades located on its east and on its west.

See also

* List of largest mosques
* Islamic architecture

References

{{list of mosques

21st-century mosques in Egypt
Mosques
Mosques completed in 2022
Mosque buildings with domes in Egypt
Mosque buildings with minarets in Egypt
Islamic architecture in Egypt
New Administrative Capital