Mario Rossi (architect)

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Not to be confused with the conductor of the same name.

Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi Mosque, Alexandria
Al-Qaed Ibrahim Mosque, Alexandria
Islamic Center of Washington

Mario Rossi (1897-1961) was an Italian architect and notable contributor to 20th-century Islamic architecture.[1]

Life[]

Rossi was born in Rome and studied architecture at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, from which he graduated in 1917. He moved to Egypt in 1921 as an assistant decorator, invited by  [it] who was Chief Court Architect of Sultan (later King) Fuad, in charge of improvements at Abdeen Palace. He then worked for Egyptian Public Works, for Verrucci's successor , and with Antonio Lasciac on projects that included interior design, mansions, apartment buildings and mausoleums for a wealthy clientele.

In 1929, despite being a Catholic, he won the competition to become the Chief Architect of the Waqf Administration. In this capacity he designed a number of mosques and religious building between 1929 and 1941, most prominently in Alexandria.[2] He also worked on the restoration of older monuments, including the Mosque of Muhammad Ali and the Al-Rifa'i Mosque in Cairo.

Like thousands of other Italian Egyptians he was dismissed and expropriated during World War II at the initiative of the British authorities, and interned between 1941 and 1944 at Camp Fayed in the Suez Canal Zone.[3] In 1946 he converted to Islam, and in that period again worked for the Waqf Administration, now as an external consultant. He also designed the Islamic Center of Washington.[4] From 1954 to 1960 he worked in Saudi Arabia on the decoration of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca.[5] He died in Cairo in 1961.[6]

He influenced a younger generation of Egyptian architects, such as and who designed the Salah al-Din Mosque in El Manial, Cairo (1959).[7]

He and his wife Rosa had a son, Alessandro.[8]

Works[]

Rossi's architecture was based on careful study of ancient Islamic buildings in Egypt and beyond, particularly those from the Fatimid and Mamluk periods.

In Greater Cairo[]

Elsewhere in Egypt[]

Outside Egypt[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Ahmed Mohamed Sedky (1998). The Modern Mosque in Egypt: The Mosques of Mario Rossi for the Awqaf. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press.
  2. ^ Khalid S. M. Al-Hagla; Marwa N. Charkas (December 2016). "Searching for the Identity in the Mario Rossi's Architecture of Mosques in Alexandria". ResearchGate.
  3. ^ Ahmed Sidky (July–September 1998), "Mario Rossi's Work in the Awqaf" (PDF), Medina Magazine: 62–69
  4. ^ Akel Ismail Kahera (January 2005), "A Mosque Between Significance and Style" (PDF), ResearchGate, pp. 56–57
  5. ^ Cristina Pallini (February 2005). "The Revival of Islamic Architecture in Egypt: some notes on the Italian Contribution (1898-1953)". ResearchGate.
  6. ^ Samir Raafat (28 March 1997). "Italian Cultural Institute in Cairo Celebrates 100th Anniversary of Mario Rossi". egy.com.
  7. ^ Magdy M. Moussa (1990), "Mario Rossi and the Egyptian School of Architecture in Alexandria", Environmental Design: Journal of the Islamic Environmental Design Research Centre, Rome: Carucci Editore: 102–105
  8. ^ Mariangela Turchiarulo (October 2012). Costruire in "stile". L'architettura italiana ad Alessandria. L'opera di Mario Rossi d'Egitto / Building "in a style". Italian architecture in Alexandria, Egypt. The work of Mario Rossi. Rome: Gangemi Editore.
  9. ^ Cynthia Myntti (1999). Paris along the Nile: Architecture in Cairo from the Belle Epoque. Cairo: American University of Cairo Press. p. 46.


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