Egypt's Islamic Cultural Center

Egypt’s Islamic Cultural Center
Religion
Affiliation	Islam
Status	Active
Location
Location	New Administrative Capital, Egypt
Geographic coordinates	30°00′06″N 31°45′17″E / 30.0017°N 31.7547°E / 30.0017; 31.7547
Architecture
Type	Mosque
Style	modern Islamic Egyptian style
Completed	2022
Specifications
Capacity	135,000
Dome(s)	1 (world's heaviest dome)
Minaret(s)	2

Egypt's Islamic Cultural Center, which houses Masjid Misr or the Grand Mosque, is a religious and architectural landmark located in the New Administrative Capital in Cairo Governorate, Egypt.^[1] The center covers an area of 250,000 square meters, and can accommodate 131,000 people.^[2]

At its completion, the cultural center received three international certificates from the Guinness World Records.^[1] 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.^[1]

History

In 2015, the concept for Egypt's purpose-built New Administrative Capital was introduced.^[3] In 2019, the first major religious buildings serving the new city, the Al-Fattah al-Aleem Mosque and a Coptic Orthodox cathedral, were completed.^[4][5] Early in 2021, plans to build Masjid Misr, a larger mosque, were announced, and this project was finished in 2022.^{[6] [7]} Egypt's president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi formally launched the Islamic Cultural Centre in March 2023.^[8]

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.^[9] 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.^[10][11]

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.^{[citation needed]}

The mosque is flanked by two minarets that rise 140 meters above the top courtyard and contains six halls, including the central prayer hall.^[11] The steel center dome measures 29.5 meters in diameter.^[12] 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.^[12] 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.^[8]

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.^[13] 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.^[8]

See also

• List of largest mosques
• Islamic architecture

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Egypt’s Islamic Cultural Center.

This page was last edited on 12 June 2024, at 07:05