CAIRO (AP) — A 650-year-old mosque in Cairo's old city has a new lease on life.

Developers have completed a three-year, $1.4 million project to restore the site (Aslam al-Silahdar Mosque), built in 1344-1345 by a nobleman who rose to the position of "swordbearer" for one of Egypt's most powerful sultan rulers.

The restoration project is an effort to revitalize the impoverished district and boost tourism. An agency of the group which directed the renovation calls the area "comparable to Rome" in terms of monuments and says it has "great potential to become one of Cairo's major attractions."

Many of the mosques, mausoleums and Islamic schools in the district are dilapidated and crumbling after decades of neglect.

Until recently, the Egyptian government did little to encourage tourism to the site.

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: An Egyptian worker egraves Arabic calligraphy inside the three-year, $1.4. million project restoring the Aslam al-Silahdar Mosque, built in 1344-1345 by Aslam al-Bahai, an Amir or nobleman who rose to the position of "silahdar," or "sword bearer" for Sultan al-Nasir Mohammed, one of the most powerful of Egypt's Mamluk rulers, in old Cairo Egypt, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. Developers unveiled the restoration of a 650-year-old mosque in Cairo's old city, part of an effort to revitalized the impoverished district and boost tourism to the country's treasure trove of Islamic sites.

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: Hanging lamps in Islamic-style inside the three-year, $1.4. million project to restore the Aslam al-Silahdar Mosque, built in 1344-1345 by Aslam al-Bahai, an Amir or nobleman who rose to the position of "silahdar," or "sword bearer" for Sultan al-Nasir Mohammed, one of the most powerful of Egypt's Mamluk rulers, in old Cairo Egypt, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. Developers unveiled the restoration of a 650-year-old mosque in Cairo's old city, part of an effort to revitalized the impoverished district and boost tourism to the country's treasure trove of Islamic sites.

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: The Aslam al-Silahdar Mosque, built in 1344-1345 by Aslam al-Bahai, an Amir or nobleman who rose to the position of "silahdar," or "sword bearer" for Sultan al-Nasir Mohammed, one of the most powerful of Egypt's Mamluk rulers, in old Cairo Egypt, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. Developers unveiled the three-year, $1.4. million restoration of a 650-year-old mosque in Cairo's old city, part of an effort to revitalized the impoverished district and boost tourism to the country's treasure trove of Islamic sites.