A Mosque and a Museum

The Mosque of Ibn Tulun

This is the oldest mosque in Cairo.

We went there with our  guests from Winnipeg last week.
When you arrive they put "slippers" on to your shoes so that you can walk around without causing the mosque to be unclean.

We climbed up this tower and got a view of the area.

The view of Cairo from the tower at the mosque.

Attached to the outside of the mosque are two adjoining houses making up a museum called the Gayer-Anderson Museum.

We went to the museum this Friday with some friends.

According to Wikipedia:

The museum takes its name from Major R.G. Gayer-Anderson Pasha, who resided in the house between 1935 and 1942 with special permission from the Egyptian Government. It is noted for being one of the best-preserved examples of 17th-century domestic architecture left in Cairo, and also for Gayer-Anderson's vast collection of furniture, carpets, curio, and other objects....

The museum consists of two houses built using the outer wall of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun as support. The larger house, located to the east... was built in 1632. It later came into the possession of a wealthy Muslim woman from Crete, and the home became popularly known as Beit al-Kritliyya, or "House of the Cretan Woman." The second house...was built in 1540. It later became known as "Beit Amna bint Salim," after its last owner. The two houses were joined by a bridge at the third floor level at an unknown point, and are both collectively known as Bayt al-Kritliyya.