Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque

Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque tickets and tours: which one to book

There is no ticket for the Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque and none is sold online. It is a working mosque and Sufi shrine, entry is free, and visitors who are dressed modestly may usually step inside outside the five daily prayers. A small tip to the attendant who looks after shoes at the door, or to anyone who shows you around, is customary. Most foreign visitors see the mosque on a day in Alexandria, either on their own or with a private guide and driver. Day trips from Cairo run along the desert road to the coast and typically combine the Catacombs of Kom el-Shoqafa, Pompey's Pillar, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Citadel of Qaitbay;

because the mosque stands only a short distance from the citadel in the Anfoushi district, many guides stop here for a look at the facade or a brief visit inside. Such trips normally include transport, a guide and sometimes lunch with fish by the harbour, while entrance fees at the ticketed sites are often extra. Independently, the mosque is easy to reach by taxi from anywhere along the Corniche, or on foot from the eastern harbour in around 20 minutes. The page lists any GetYourGuide tours whose route passes the mosque.

Visiting Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque: what to see and how to behave

This is the most celebrated mosque in Alexandria, built over the tomb of Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi, a thirteenth-century Sufi master born in Murcia in Andalusia who settled in the city and died here in 1286. A domed tomb rose over his grave, a mosque followed in 1307, and the Mamluk governor rebuilt it in 1477. The building you see today is much later: in the 1930s King Fuad I ordered a large new square to be laid out with this mosque at its centre, flanked by the shrines of al-Busiri, the poet of a famous hymn to the Prophet, and Yaqut al-Arsh, and the Italian architect Mario Rossi worked on the design, which took well over a decade to complete. Rossi drew on late Mamluk architecture, and the result is a pale, crisply carved Neo-Mamluk building raised a few metres above the square, with a large central dome, four smaller domes around it and a slender minaret about 73 m high.

Inside, the floor is white marble and the walls combine artificial stone with mosaic. Look up at the arabesque and calligraphic decoration of the ceiling, the bronze chandelier, the granite columns supporting the dome, and the minbar of teak and walnut. The mihrab is framed in marble with a mosaic of the profession of faith. At the back of the prayer hall lies the tomb of the saint with three of his disciples, the focus of quiet prayers and requests. Remove your shoes, keep to the visitors' areas, avoid prayer times, and do not photograph people praying. Women use a separate prayer section on the western side.

Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque: opening hours, ceremonies and the best time to go

The mosque is open from dawn until after the night prayer, but visitors are best received in the gaps between prayers, particularly mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Avoid Friday around midday, when the noon prayer and sermon fill the hall and the square. Alexandria is most pleasant from October to May, when the sea breeze is cool and the light is clear; summer is humid and the Corniche is crowded with holidaymakers from Cairo.

During Ramadan the mosque is busy in the evenings after the fast is broken, and the saint's annual moulid brings Sufi orders, chanting and stalls to the surrounding streets. Allow 30 to 45 minutes. The mosque sits close to the Citadel of Qaitbay and the fish restaurants of the harbour, and it combines easily with a walk along the Corniche to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.