GRAND ENTRANCE TO THE MOSQUE OF THE SULTAN 
HASSAN. 
No part of this magnificent Mosque is more striking than the grand portal by which 
it is entered from the Sook El-Silah, at the right extremity of its north-eastern 
side; its impressive effect is due to its extraordinary elevation, and its noble arabesque 
decorations. The height of this stupendous entrance, from the street to the top of 
the arch, is one hundred feet, of which the flight of steps leading to the door is 
fifteen feet, and the portal itself eighty-five. Seen from the entrance to the narrow 
street whence the steps ascend, its grandeur is most imposing, though its beautiful 
proportion to the entire building requires that more should be seen than can be 
observed in this point of view. In size, this portal would be equal to the great 
opening of the arch of the Barriere de l’Etoile, at Paris; and if this, like the portal 
of the Mosque of the Sultan Hassan, sprang from a platform raised nearly fifteen 
feet above the road which it traverses, it would have the same entire elevation: 
to those who have not visited Cairo, yet know Paris, this will convey some idea 
of the immensity of this entrance to the Mosque of the Sultan Hassan. 
The height of the wall through which the portal leads is one hundred and twenty- 
eight feet above the street. It has a grand cornice, fifteen feet high, and which 
projects six feet. This surrounds the Mosque, and gives, from its great elevation 
and simple breadth, a vast addition to the grandeur of the building, and excites 
an emotion of sublimity in the contemplation of this arched portal, greater perhaps 
than that produced by any other extant. 
At the base and against the walls of the Mosque, wretched houses and shops 
are built, which, like those stuck into every corner and niche of the outside walls 
of the Cathedrals in France, are most unseemly, and form a striking contrast to 
the beautiful carving, rich compartments, and inscribed cornice of the magnificent 
entrance to the Mosque above them. 
