After Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey (French, 1804–1892)
Lithograph by Mathieu and Bayot
From L’Art arabe d’après les monuments du Kaire depuis le VIIe siècle jusqu’à la fin du XVIIIe par Prisse d’Avennes. 3 vols. Paris, V^e A. Morel et C^ie, 1877.
Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun, Interior of the Maqsura (9th century), vol. 1, pl. 1
Color lithograph, 21 5/8 x 16 in.
Inscribed lower left: Lith. par Mathieu et Bayot / A. Morel & Cie, Libraries, lower center: Girault de Prangey, lower right.: imp. par Lemèrcier & Cie / Ordre de publication 13
1999.9

The Mosque of Ibn Tulun, completed in AD 879, is the largest and second oldest surviving mosque in Egypt. This lithograph, is one of several from the French draftsman and photographer Joseph-Philibert Girault de Prangey’s collection of daguerreotype plates (the French process of photography invented in 1839). It shows the interior of the maqsura (an enclosed space which the ruler or his representative may pray) near the minbar (pulpit), where people gather for the Friday sermon led by the Imam (prayer leader).