Currency - Egypt - 5 Pounds- Year 1959

Item code: 82/EG-10

Year	1959
Obverse	On the right side, a statue of King Tut Ankh Amon ,on the lift side the mosque of Mohammad Ali Pasha
Reverse	in the middle , a statue of God Nilos and his 13 sons representing the branches of the Nile
Watermark	The Lotus flower
Size	170 x 89 mm

Obverse description:    

Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha

The great Mosque of Muhammad Ali Pasha or Alabaster Mosque (Arabic: مسجد محمد) is a mosque situated in the Citadel of Cairo in Egypt and commissioned by Muhammad Ali Pasha between 1830 and 1848.

Situated on the summit of the citadel, this Ottoman mosque, the largest to be built in the first half of the 19th century, is, with its animated silhouette and twin minarets, the most visible mosque in Cairo. The mosque was built in memory of Tusun Pasha, Muhammad Ali's oldest son, who died in 1816.

The mosque was built on the site of old Mamluk buildings in Cairo's Citadel between 1830 and 1848, although not completed until the reign of Said Pasha in 1857. The architect was Yusuf Bushnak from Istanbul and its model was the Yeni Mosque in that city. The ground on which the mosque was erected was built with debris from the earlier buildings of the Citadel.

Minbar of the mosque

Before completion of the mosque, the alabastered panels from the upper walls were taken away and used for the palaces of Abbas I. The stripped walls were clad with wood painted to look like marble. In 1899 the mosque showed signs of cracking and some inadequate repairs were undertaken. But the condition of the mosque became so dangerous that a complete scheme of restoration was ordered by King Fuad in 1931 and was finally completed under King Farouk in 1939.

Muhammad Ali Pasha was buried in a tomb carved from Carrara marble, in the courtyard of the mosque. His body was transferred here from Hawsh al-Basha in 1857. 

Reverse description    

Statue of the Nile God 

NILUS (Neilos), the god of the river Nile in Egypt, is said to have been a son of Oceanus and Thetys, and father of Memphis and Chione.

The Statue of the Nile God is an Ancient Roman, likely Hellenistic, marble statue dating from the 2nd to 3rd century A.C. It is located at Piazzetta Nilo, at the start of via Nilo, in the quarter of the same name, and it is this statue that gives all their name. The church of Santa Maria Assunta dei Pignatelli faces the statue, and the Palazzo Panormita is on the north flank. Two blocks mainly east, along Via Benedetto Croce (part of the Decumano Inferiore commonly called Via Spaccanapoli) rises the church of San Domenico. 

History

The statue represents the Nile God, recumbent with a cornucopia and lying on a now mutilated sphinx. The statue was likely erected in the then Roman port city by Alexandrian merchants. It was recovered, headless, in 1476, and was nicknamed "Corpo di Napoli". It was placed upon a pedestal in 1657, and later than century a bearded head was sculpted. In recent decades, the statue was again decapitated by robbers, and later recovered.

The Nile River between Luxor and Aswan, Egypt

A higher quality version of the same topic, also Ancient Roman, is found in the Vatican Museums. Both statues are copies of an original from Alexandria, Egypt.

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