Cairo’s Sayyida Zainab Mosque holds great cultural significance in Egypt—which made the restoration of the building without compromising its architectural identity of great importance for the project team.

Meeting the project’s stringent schedule added to its challenges, while the budget for the work had to be increased after fluctuations in the local currency exchange rate led to a 100% rise in raw materials prices.

The mosque features hundreds of marble columns, chandeliers and mosque lamps decorated with Islamic symbols. Ground penetrating radar was needed to precisely identify and detect voids in its stone facades to be replaced. Laser scanning was used to replicate newly constructed areas to fit into the mosque’s historically held style.

Among added features are interior walls decorated with wooden and marble artistic panels, a renovated courtyard outfitted with fine granite and increased entryways to improve the flow of worshippers during peak times, according to the submission.

The contractors explain that services at the mosque continued throughout the project—thanks to the strict coordination of public spaces so congregants could be removed from the bustle of construction and pray in peace.