By Nevine El-Aref RESTORATION work on the Mosque of Amr Ibn Al-As, the first to be built in Egypt, began last week. The repairs will restore Africa's earliest mosque, located in Old Cairo, to its original condition as described in historic documents. According to Gaballah Ali Gaballah, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), the work has been tailored to correct the mistakes made in earlier restorations, particularly those undertaken in 1797, during the reign of Murad Bey. "Our project aims to correct earlier mistakes and also to end the problems caused by the leakage of subterranean water into the monument," Gaballah said. Abdallah El-Attar, head of the Islamic and Coptic antiquities department of the SCA, said restoration would focus on iwan al-qibla, the raised, arcaded prayer hall connected to the mosque's main courtyard. All the iwan's columns will be dismantled, restored, and then re-erected in their original positions, El-Attar said. "Those pillars that prove impossible to restore will be replaced by similar ones from the store-rooms of the SCA," said Mohamed Mahgoub, director of the archaeological zone of Old Cairo. He added that the mosque's cement ceiling will be replaced by a wooden ceiling, as would have been the case when the mosque was first built. Hassan Fahmi, the engineer in charge of the project, said mistakes made by earlier restorers had weakened the pillars. "We used to reinforce and repair the pillars supporting the iwan's ceiling every two years," Fahmi said. "But this latest restoration will put an end to the problem once and for all." Amr Ibn Al-As, the Arab commander who conquered Egypt, built the mosque in 642 AD. During the 13 centuries that followed, the mosque has undergone such extensive reconstruction that almost no original architectural components remain. The mosque has been the site of two recent restorations, the first in the 1980s and more recently in the early 1990s. Yet neither project was sufficient to repair the attrition of centuries and in 1996 a 15-square-metre section of the roof collapsed, injuring three workers.
