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| Bab al-Nasr, Cairo | Bab al-Futuh, Cairo |
The medieval city of Cairo was bounded on the north by a wall complex. Entrance was (still is) through two massive adjoining gates, the Bab al-Futuh ("Gate of the Conquests"), and the Bab al-Nasr ("Gate of the Victory"), both built in 1087 by the Armenian Fatimid General Badr al-Gamali to defend the city against an attack by the Seljuk Turks that never came. There is a Mamluk caravanserai (inn) near this point dating to the thirteenth century.
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| Minaret, Mosque al-Hakim, Cairo | Court, Mosque al-Hakim, Cairo |
Just inside the Bab al-Futuh begins Sharia Muiz al-Din Allah, the street that runs the length of the medieval city and terminates at the Bab Zuweila. The street is also called al-Qasaba. Also just inside the gate is the 10th century Fatimid mosque of the Caliph al-Hakim begun in 990 and completed in 1013.
Further down Sharia Muiz al-Din Allah, one comes to the Mosque of al-Aqmar ("the moonlit"), 1125, built by the wizeer of the Fatimid caliph al-Amir, al-Ma'mun al-Bata'ihi. And, just beyond this point is the Madrassa and Maristan of Qalawun.
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Madrassa and Maristan of Sultan Qalawun
In 1284, work was completed on Mamluk Sultan Qalawun's maristan ("hospital") in Cairo, to which is connected a mosque, a madrassa ("school"), and the sultan's own tomb. The madrassa of Qalawun was built with stone cannibalized from the pyramids and other buildings, and included a public library. Public lectures were held, sponsored by each of the four orthodox Islamic schools: Hanafi, Shafii, Maliki, Hanbali (today most northern Egyptians are Hanafites while the Malikites predominate in the south). There was also an orphanage, a children's religious school, and a kindergarten. |
| Madrassa and Maristan of Sultan Qalawun, Cairo |
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The maristan ("hospital") attached to the Qalawun complex had large wards and well-stocked laboratories. Fifty readers chanted the Koran in the mausoleum. Included in the maristan were special wards for segregating diseases, such as fevers, ophthalmia, and dysentery. There were baths, a dispensary, kitchens, and storerooms. Lectures in medicine were given in a special lecture hall. Climbing the minaret today affords the visitor excellent views of the skylines of Cairo, medieval and modern. |
The Qalawun complex is one of the most interesting of all Mamluk building complexes in Cairo. It is the site of Cairo's first sabeel, a "public fountain," which was added to the structure in 1366 by Qalawun's son, the Sultan al-Nasr Muhammad. The water from these asbila was free to the public, but especially intended for the poor. Sometimes attached to them were Quranic schools. Such an arrangement was called a sabeel-kuttub ("fountain of books"). One beautiful example, still in use as a school but no longer as a fountain, is the sabeel-kuttub of Abd al-Rahman Kutkhuda, an Ottoman structure built in 1744). This sabeel features colorful marble relief work.
Sabeel Kuttub of al-Nasr Muhammad, Cairo, 1366 |
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| Sabeel-Kuttab of Abd al-Rahman Kutkhuda, Cairo, 1744 |
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Palace of Amir Bashtak
One of al-Nasr Muhammad's leading officials was his son-in-law Amir Bashtak. Known to have ambitions to succeed as sultan, Bashtak was arrested by the sultan's actual son Abu Bakr after he had succeeded his father in 1340 and was executed one year later. Bashtak's palace (left) was built between 1334 and 1339. |
| Palace of Amir Bashtak, built 1334-1339 |
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Al-Azhar, Cairo, 972
About midway along Sharia Muiz al-Din Allah as one proceeds in a southwesterly direction toward the Bab Zuweila is the al-Azhar ("the Blooming") Mosque. Al Azhar was commissioned by Jawhar in 988 as a university having been completed in 972 by the caliph al-Aziz. It is the oldest surviving Fatimid structure in Cairo. |
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Al-Azhar was augmented by subsequent generations of rulers (Mamluks and Ottomans). The Mamluks were renowned for their use of colored marble the pieces of which were carved with intricate precision and fitted seamlessly together in stunning patterns. |
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Mamluk style Mihrab, al-Azhar, Cairo |
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Bab Zuweila
At the southern end of the medieval city (about one kilometer away) stands another major gate: the Bab Zuweila (now called Bab Mutwalli by locals). It was built in 1092. The Mamluks and later theOttomanscarried out executions here. (see the story of the end of Sultan Tuman Bey II.) |
| Bab Zuweila |
Mosque of Sultan Hasan
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Mosque of Sultan Hasan, Cairo, 1356-1360
Mihrab (l.) and Minbar (r.) |
The building regarded as the masterpiece of Egyptian Islamic architecture is the mosque of Sultan Hasan, built between 1356 and 1360. It is not primarily a mosque, but a madrassa ("school") built on a cruciform plan with four liwans ("curvature"), or niches, one for each of the four schools of Islamic legal and theological thought taught there: the Hanbali, Maliki, Hanafi, and the Shafi (the Shafi, regarded as preeminent, were assigned the liwan on the qibla side, the side indicating the direction toward Mecca). Sultan Hasan was a boarding school. If you look up from the court of any liwan you will see the cells where the students lived.
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Student "cells," Madrassa section, Sultan Hasan, Cairo |
Across the street is the Rifai mosque, built between 1869 and 1911 in a style that would make it a good fit next door to the Mamluk period Sultan Hasan mosque). This is where the former Shah of Iran (died in 1980) is buried.
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Sultan Hasan Mosque (l.) and Rifai Mosque (r.), Cairo |
Miscellaneous Mamluk Period Buildings
In the "City of the Dead" on the eastern fringes of Cairo (today inhabited by squatter families) are other masterpieces of Mamluk architecture: the mosque of Farag, the tomb of Barquq (which took twelve years to build, from 1398-1411), the mosque and tomb of Barsbey (ca.1465), and the one regarded as the jewel of Mamluk Egypt, the madrassa and mausoleum of the Sultan Qait Bey, built between 1472 and 1474. The carving, the colored marble, and the geometric designs in the interior are exquisite. Mamluk architecture is noted for its use of colorful tiles, inlaid marbles and other stones. The master stone masons employed by the Mamluks expertly carved the many colored stones in curves and scrolls fitting one to another like so many pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
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| Tomb of Qait Bey | Muqarnas, Tomb of Qait Bey |
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Side Tour: The Citadel
The Citadel (al-Qal'a or al-Burg) is a fortress built just outside the eastern wall of the medieval city by the Ayyubid Sultan Salah al-Din between 1171 and 1182. |
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The Citadel, Cairo |
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The most prominent building on the citadel is theOttomanperiod Muhammad Ali mosque, also called the "Alabaster Mosque." It was begun in 1830, but not completed until the reign of Said Pasha in 1857. It is Turkish throughout with no trace of the Mamluk style that had dominated Egypt for centuries. |
| Mosque of Muhammad Ali, Cairo, 1830-1857 |
Much more interesting and more typically Egyptian is the Mamluk al-Nasr Muhammad mosque, built in 1318, and enlarged in 1335.
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| Mosque al-Nasr Muhammad |
Another interesting Ottoman mosque on the Citadel is that of Suleiman Pasha, built in 1528. In the court of this mosque up on the wall in Arabic are the words, Ya Muhammad, ya Ali!, an inscription put up by the Shiites to honor Ali, the fourth caliph (656-661), son in law to the prophet and the one they regarded as the legitimate successor to Muhammad.
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Suleiman Pasha Mosque, Cairo, 1528
(top r. to l.)"Ya Allah! Ya Allah!" (bottom r. to l.) "Ya Ali!" "Ya Muhammad!" |
Ali was husband to the prophet's daughter, Fatima, and father to Husayn who was martyred in 680. Husayn is also revered as a Shiite saint. Ali was murdered in 661 in a struggle over the caliphate. His death marks the beginning of Shiism, from i-shi'a ("the partisan"), hence the split within Islam, al-fitna ("split," or more aptly, "the troubles"). Shiism today claims 15% of all Muslims, while most of the remainder are Sunni ("orthodox") Muslims. (see Overview of Islam and Shia)
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Eastern Ayyubid Wall
In the summer of 2002, the Aga Khan Cultural Services - Egypt (AKCS-E) was excavating and restoring the Ayyubid period wall built by Salah al-Din. The AKCS-E project includes restoration of adjoining mosques and modern houses in the community which is known today as Darb al-Ahmar. |
| Eastern wall, medieval city of Cairo (looking north to south) |
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| Above L. and R. -- Aga Khan Cultural Services restoration work on Eastern Ayyubid wall, Summer, 2002 -- Photos by Peter Drench. |
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