Located south of Bab Zuweila, in the Darb al-Ahmar neighbourhood, it was built on what was then the outskirts of medieval Cairo by Amir Altinbugha al-Maridani, with significant help from Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad.

[1] At the time of its building, it was one of the most extravagantly decorated mosques in Cairo, marked by the first fully octagonal minaret and large dome, as well as other architectural innovations.

[5] In 738 AH (1337–1338 CE), al-Maridani purchased the houses on the site of his future mosque at half value and demolished them to make way for construction.

It focused on restoring the prayer hall and aimed to integrate the mosque into a tourist route along the Darb al-Ahmar district.

[7][10][11] The first phase of the project, including restoration of the prayer hall and the eastern parts of the mosque, was completed in June 2021.

[1] The main entrance is a deep recess, crowned by a muqarnas cresting, panelled with marble and richly patterned.

The northern, eastern and part of the southern facades are the only ones with these windows, as they would have lined the busiest streets and as such been the most visible walls.

Instead, the pear-shaped bulb sits on top of the eight-columned pavilion crowned with muqarnas; it is replicated on the interior wooden pulpit.

[15] On the wall beneath the minaret, the golden band that runs from the main entrance along the entire facade breaks, and the corner nearest the mosque is missing its colonettes.

The buttress of the minaret is also built with different stone than the rest of the mosque, indicating that this section of the wall was rebuilt.

The eight columns that support the dome, however, are all of equal size, have ancient Egyptian capitals, and were likely brought from Upper Egypt.

[1] Relieving oculi penetrate the spandrels of the second row of arches,[17] and at each corner and at the middle of each façade of the courtyard a small mabkhara-shaped turret containing a bulb of vlue glass.

This wooden screen mostly shades the prayer hall from the courtyard's light, making the double windows in the outer wall necessary.

[17] The mihrab is made of polychrome marble and has friezes of small niches with blue-glass colonettes on the side framing its upper edge.

The windows in the transitional zone between ceiling and dome are of one oculus over two bays,[17] and are decorated with stucco arabesque grills filled with colored glass.

In his two volume work Mawaiz wa al-'i'tibar bi dhikr al-khitat wa al-'athar (al-Khitat), Maqrizi describes the physical layout of medieval Cairo in exact detail, including buildings' construction histories and their connections to greater Cairene society.