Showing 1-9 of 9 results
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Amir Taz Palace
The Amir Taz Palace is the restored home of one of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad's closest advisers, who later controlled the throne through Sultan Hassan. Now used as a cultural centre, the home is not as extensive as Beit el-Suhaymi, but admission is free, and there are a couple of small exhibits, a beautiful wood ceiling in the loggia and even clean bathrooms.
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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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Beit al-Harrawi
Another fine 18th-century mansion, but too sparse inside to warrant the admission charge. It is sometimes used as a concert venue and houses the Arabic Oud House; you may hear rehearsals.
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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.
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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 khanqah s (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.
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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.
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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'.
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Qasr al-Baron
You can't miss the extraordinary Baron's Palace, a Hindu-style temple modelled on the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, with Buddhas, geishas, elephants and serpents adorning the exterior. The fantastical look of the place contributed to a citywide panic in 1997 about 'Satanists' allegedly holding rituals here - turned out they were a bunch of upper-class teenage heavy-metal fans. A decade later, the ruin is still very much off-limits.
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Uruba Palace
Once a grand hotel graced by the likes of King Albert I of Belgium and now Mubarak's offices - a short commute, as he lives just up the street.
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Showing 1-9 of 9 results
