Dark sights in Cairo
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Northern Cemetery
The Northern Cemetery is the more interesting half of a vast necropolis known popularly as the City of the Dead. The titillating name refers to the fact that the cemeteries are not only resting places for Cairo's dead, but for the living too. Visitors expecting morbid squalor may be disappointed; the area, complete with power lines, a post office and multistorey buildings, is more 'town' than 'shanty'.
Some estimates put the number of living Cairenes here at 50,000; others, at 10 times this number. As Max Rodenbeck notes in Cairo: The City Victorious, some of the tomb dwellers, especially the paid guardians and their families, have lived here for generations. Others have …
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Giza Pyramids
The sole survivor of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Pyramids of Giza still live up to more than 4000 years of hype. Their extraordinary shape, geometry and age render them somehow alien constructions; they seem to rise out of the desert and pose the ever-fascinating question, 'How were we built, and why?'.
Centuries of research have given us parts of the answer to this double-barrelled question. We know they were massive tombs constructed on the orders of the pharaohs by teams of workers tens-of-thousands strong. This is supported by the discovery of a pyramid-builders' settlement, complete with areas for large-scale food production and medical facilities. Ongoing ex…
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Mausoleum of Al-Ghouri
On the south side of Sharia al-Azhar, opposite the khan, the grand Mosque-Madrassa of Al-Ghouri, with its red-chequered minaret, and the elegant Mausoleum of Al-Ghouri together form an exquisite monument to the end of the Mamluk era. Qansuh al-Ghouri, the penultimate Mamluk sultan, ruled for 16 years. At the age of 78, he rode to Syria at the head of his army to battle the Ottoman Turks. The head of the defeated Al-Ghouri was sent to Constantinople; his body was never recovered.
His mausoleum (dating from 1505) contains the body of Tumanbey, his short-lived successor, hanged by the Turks at Bab Zuweila. The mausoleum, which has been under restoration for a number of year…
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Madrassa & Mausoleum of Qalaun
Built in just 13 months, the 1279 Madrassa & Mausoleum of Qalaun is both the earliest and the most splendid of the three buildings on this street. It was still closed for restoration at the time of research. The mausoleum, on the right, is a particularly intricate assemblage of inlaid stone and stucco, patterned with stars and floral motifs and lit by stained-glass windows.
The complex also includes a maristan (hospital), which Qalaun ordered built after he visited one in Damascus, where he was cured of colic. The Arab traveller and historian Ibn Battuta, who visited Cairo in 1325, was impressed that Qalaun's hospital contained 'an innumerable quantity of appliances and m…
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Complex of Sultan Ashraf Barsbey
From Qaitbey cross the square and continue north. The cemetery has an almost villagelike feel with small shops, cafés and street sellers, and sandy paths pecked by chickens and nosed around by goats. After about 250m the street widens and on the right a stone wall encloses a large area of rubble-strewn ground that was formerly the Complex of Sultan Ashraf Barsbey.
Though not as sophisticated as the one topping the Mosque of Qaitbey, the dome here is carved with a beautiful star pattern. Inside there is some fine marble flooring and a beautiful minbar (pulpit) inlaid with ivory. The guard will let you in for baksheesh (ask the ever-present children if he's not around).
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Madrassa & Mausoleum of An-Nasir Mohammed
Built in 1304 by a Mamluk sultan both despotic and exceedingly accomplished. The Gothic doorway was plundered from a church in Acre (now Akko, Israel) when An-Nasir and his army ended Crusader domination there in 1290 - note how the word 'Allah' has been inscribed at the point of the arch. The lacy pattern on the carved stucco minaret, a North African style, reveals more foreign influence.
Buried in the mausoleum (on the right as you enter but usually locked) is An-Nasir's mother and favourite son; An-Nasir Mohammed is interred next door in the mausoleum of his father, Qalaun.
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Khanqah & Mausoleum of Sultan Beybars al-Gashankir
The Mamluk Khanqah & Mausoleum of Sultan Beybars al-Gashankir is distinguished by its stubby minaret, topped with a small ribbed dome. Built in 1310, this is one of the city's first khanqahs (Sufi monasteries). Thanks to a multipart 'baffled' entrance, it is serene inside. Beybars al-Gashankir is entombed in a room that shimmers with black-and-white marble panelling and light from stained-glass windows.
He ruled for only a year, then wound up strangled - his name was excised from the building façade by order of his successor.
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Madrassa & Mausoleum of Barquq
Barquq seized power in 1382, when Egypt was reeling from plague and famine; his Sufi school was completed four years later. Enter through the bold black-and-white marble portal into a vaulted passageway. To the right, the inner court has a colourful ceiling supported by four porphyry Pharaonic columns. Barquq's daughter is buried in the splendid domed tomb chamber; the sultan himself preferred to rest in the Northern Cemetery, surrounded by Sufi sheikhs.
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Khanqah-Mausoleum of Farag Ibn Barquq
Built by a son of Sultan Barquq, whose great madrassa and mausoleum stand on Bein al-Qasreen. Completed in 1411 the khanqah is a fortresslike building with high, sheer façades and twin minarets and domes. In the courtyard, monastic cells lead off the arcades. Two tomb chambers - one for women, one for men - are each topped with domes; their ceilings are painted in mesmerising red-and-black geometric patterns.
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Mosque of Ar-Rifai
Opposite the grand mosque, the Mosque of Ar-Rifai is constructed on a similarly grand scale, begun in 1869 and not finished until 1912. Members of modern Egypt’s royal family, including Khedive Ismail and King Farouk, are buried inside, as is the last shah of Iran. Their tombs lie to the left of the entrance.
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Tomb of Khentkawes
The rarely visited but imposing Tomb of Khentkawes, opposite the Great Pyramid and south of Khafre's causeway, is the tomb of Menkaure's powerful daughter. The tomb is a rectangular building cut into a small hill. A corridor at the back of the chapel room leads down to the burial chambers, but the descent can be hazardous.
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Greek Orthodox Cemetery
Beyond the Church of St Barabara an iron gate leads to the large, peaceful (if a bit litter-strewn) Greek Orthodox Cemetery. Women on their own should be careful - we've heard reports of flashers lurking among the gravestones.
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Eastern Cemetery
The tombs of Qar, Idu and Queen Meresankh III, in the Eastern Cemetery, are accessible, although it's sometimes difficult to find the guard who has the keys.
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Basilica
A miniature version of Istanbul's famous Aya Sofya, dubbed the 'jelly mould' by local expats. Baron Empain, the man who founded Heliopolis, is buried here.
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Western Cemetery
The Tomb of Iasen, in the Western Cemetery, contains interesting inscriptions and wall paintings that offer a glimpse of daily life during the Old Kingdom.
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Tomb of Seshemnufer IV
The Tomb of Seshemnufer IV has a burial chamber you can climb down into.
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