Al-Azhar Mosque is known as the famous religious university of Cairo, where everyone is engaged in the study of the Koran, Arabic language and literature, a variety of religious disciplines. The mosque was erected by the famous warlord Dzhokhar in 969-972 simultaneously with the construction of the city itself and was the main mosque of the state. For many centuries, the mosque was a shelter for locals and refugees in times of wars and persecutions. The mosque became an educational institution in 988. With money from waqf revenues, the mosque has been rebuilt, restored and additional classrooms have been added to expand the space many times.
Since the middle of the twentieth century, the mosque has become the largest and most prestigious Islamic university. It has about 50 faculties and educates Muslims from all over the world. At the moment, the university is equipped with a library that has sixty thousand books and fifteen thousand manuscripts.
Al-Azhar is a fine example of architecture. The entrance to the mosque is an arch in the form of a trefoil. The inner halls are decorated with an abundance of relief forms, numerous arches, a variety of graphic and floral ornaments and patterns on the walls and columns. The mosque is surrounded by an arcade and has an underground passage to the Al-Hussein Mosque. Nearby is the city's market and Cairo's oldest coffee shop.
Over the course of its existence, the mosque has changed its external appearance considerably, but the ancient foundation has remained intact. This is the inner courtyard, which is framed around the perimeter by an arcade, and a huge hall for ceremonial receptions, unique in that it has 380 columns. These buildings look the same today as they did in 973. It is worth noting that the main buildings of the mosque are made of brick covered with plaster. And the structures completed later are made of stone.
