Five days in Islamic Cairo

The Abbasids, Fatimids, Ayyubids, Mamluks, Ottomans; mashrabiya and Mamluk minbars; mosques, madrasas, sabil, kuttab, khanqah, wekalat, and many mausoleums. There is a ton to see in Islamic Cairo.

The density of monuments on a 5km north-south stretch from the Citadel to Bab Al-Fotuh is phenomenal. I spent three days walking that section, one day to visit the northern cemetery (and Baron Empain Palace in Heliopolis), and another day south and west (mostly Ibn Tulun Mosque and Rhoda Island). My biggest regret is not making time for the Islamic Art Museum, but there’s also the southern cemetery, and, well, I have whole list (of just Islamic Cairo) that would probably take another five days.

I stayed in Abdin, not far from the eponymous palace and the Mohamed Naguib Metro Station. The hotel had no heat and poor insulation, but two thick warm comfortable comforters kept me cozy at night. From my balcony I could see the dome and minarets of Mohammed Ali Mosque at the Citadel.

I had breakfast around the corner every morning from a smiling, welcoming group of young guys.

The metro does not go into the dense historic center but was useful for other areas. inDrive app makes hailing taxis very easy. I used it to get to my starting point at least three mornings. I walked home some afternoons which could be faster than a taxi during rush hour. The bread delivery guys use bicycles, but the monuments of interest to tourists are so densely packed together that walking is preferable.

Also, walking Cairo’s streets is fun for its own sake. Here’s the Islamic Art Museum that I passed near my hotel and never made it inside. 🙁

I was impressed to see so much mashrabiya, the latticed wooden windows/balconies also common in historic Jeddah.

There are unexpected finds all over the place. This portal happened to have a sign, Darb al-Labbana Gate.

Because the sites are so jumbled together, it mostly doesn’t matter what order you visit. I doubled back on my route a number of times or returned to certain sites, usually because of opening hours. It also got quite jumbled up in my mind so I’m going to try (knowing, a priori, I will fail) and go through chronologically and see if I can make some order from the chaos.

Cairo was founded by the Fatimids in the 10th century. “But, wait, what about Abbasids?” you’re asking. I think there are even Umayyad ruins to see in Cairo, but my tour started with Al-Farghani and the 9th century Abbasid Ibn Tulum Mosque.

The most interesting part of Ibn Tulum Mosque is the minaret, which was added later, modeled after the 9th century Abbasid mosque in Samarra.

Incredibly each of those arches in the courtyard has unique carved (?) decorations.

In addition to Ibn Tulum Mosque the engineer, scientist, astronomer Al-Farghani built a Nilometer on Rhoda Island.

But the building housing it is from the Ottoman Period!

The layout of the (10th century Fatimid) Al Hakim Mosque (aka Mosque of al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah) reminded me of Ibn Tulun, though the former has been thoroughly restored.

The mosque is built into the (Fatimid) city walls between two gates, Bab Al-Nasr and Bab Al-Fotuh.

Here’s the northern wall enclosing original Fatimid Cairo

and Bab Zuweila at the southern end

later capped with 15th century Mamluk minarets for the Sultan al-Muayyad Mosque!

Another 10th century Fatimid mosque, also heavily restored, is El Azhar Mosque. It’s firmly within the Fatimid walled city, but now there’s a very busy four-lane road adjacent.

I have a pre-restoration photo (see Markus Hattstein’s Islam Art and Architecture, p.140) of the above courtyard façade — picturesque. Now you can go outside and admire the two entrance façades.

Another stunning Fatimid façade is at the 12th century Al-Aqmar Mosque.

Our final Fatimid mosque, also from the 12th century, is Al-Tala’ee (aka Salih Talai), “the last of the Fatimid buildings” (Hattstein, p. 153). The rectangular plan with a center courtyard is familiar by now (Ibn Tulum, Al Hakim, El Azhar mosques are all similar in layout),

but for the first time I found a minbar so historically important that it’s enclosed in locked plexiglass.

The plexiglass makes it difficult to photo or even to see and appreciate the intricate woodwork which reached its zenith during the Mamluk Period. Here’s a bit of a teaser of the woodwork on a tomb in the 13th century Ayyubid complex by Sultan Al-Salih Nagm Al-Din Ayyub.

The Ayyubids moved the seat of power in Egypt south to the citadel where it remained for 700 years (until Abdin Palace was constructed in the 19th century). Both the Mamluks and the Ottomans made major modifications to the citadel. Perhaps this gate is original Ayyubid?

Now, however, we’ve come to the Mamluks, and I’m afraid I’ll quickly run out of superlatives. These are the buildings that puts Cairo (with Esfahan and Agra) in my top three cities for Islamic architecture. Since we’re already at the citadel, let’s start with 14th century Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque. Nice courtyard,

check out the stonework on the mıhrab,

but the highlight is the minbar.

This is gameya, the technique to join all these little wood pieces together, making the patterns we admire on these minbars and doors.

You can read about the theft, preservation, and restoration of Cairo’s Mamluk minbars in the January 2023 issue of Aramco World.

Down the hill back in the center of the Fatimid walled city are three fantastic buildings, all right next to each other. Starting with the 13th century Madrasa of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun, check out the Gothic portal,

stucco details on the minaret,

and this niche.

Next door is the Qalawun Complex (13th century Mamluk), housing one of the most beautiful mausoleums in the world. But these first two photos are the madrasa, I believe.

Here’s the mausoleum.

Photos don’t do it justice. You have to go see it yourself. I would have gone back, but I didn’t make it here till my last day in Cairo — another reason for another visit. Moving next door again, we have the 14th century Madrasa and Khanqa of Sultan Barquq. Khanqa, it turns out, is just a Persian (?) word for Sufi lodge. In modern Turkish we say zaviye. Same pattern as Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque — nice courtyard, stonework on the mıhrab, but this time the highlight is the gilded ceiling.

We can’t leave without looking at the dome too.

Around the corner is 14th century Beshtak Palace (no photos), but let’s go south where there are four more 14th century Mamluk mosques that are worth visiting. The highlight at Sultan Hassan Mosque is the mıhrab.

Gameya at Umm Al-Sultan Shaaban Mosque (14th century Mamluk):

Al-Maridani Mosque (14th century Mamluk) is another looker with an unusual doorway and unusual wooden screen separating the pretty courtyard from the prayer area. I’m guessing the minbar was nice as well — it was stolen.

Amir Aq Sunqur Mosque was built in the 14th century, but I understand the blue İznik tiles were added by the Ottomans in the 17th century.

Another 14th century mosque in this area is Itmish Al-bajasi. I’m not sure why I didn’t get inside.

Nearby, the 15th century Bayt al-Razzaz Palace was closed for restoration. I didn’t visit the 15th century Zeinab Khatoon House either. The 15th century Qijmas Al-Ishaqi Mosque was closed, but I liked the door.

Qijmas Al-Ishaqi Mosque is featured on the 50 pound note, but note the gameya designs.

We already saw the minarets of the 15th century Sultan al-Muayyad Mosque (on top of the 11th century Fatimid gate, Bab Zuweila). There’s a lot more to admire here. The entrance portal, dome, and another familiar courtyard:

The highlight is the detailed woodwork. What we see surrounding the tomb is mashrabiya,

but it’s the gameya we’re after. Aramco World (p.29): “In Cairo, some of the most historically important minbars are those in the mosques of Sultan al-Ashraf Qaytbay (1474 CE), al-Salih Tala’i (1160 CE) and Sultan al-Mu’ayyad Shaykh (1421 CE).”

Unfortunately part of the minbar at Sultan Qaytbay Mausoleum (referred to above as Sultan al-Ashraf Qaytbay) was stolen. “The dome is regarded, justifiably, as the masterpiece of the increasingly refined, elaborate masonry of the late Mamluk Period.” (Hattstein, p. 191)

We’re in the northern cemetery now and just a 10-minute walk north from Qaytbay is the 15th century Sultan Barsbay Mausoleum. A woman unlocked the plexiglass enclosure of the minbar which showcases both gameya and mashrabiya.

Plus a painted ceiling and stonework on a windowsill.

Compared to the center of Cairo the cemetery was dusty, deserted, and run down which made these art and architectural treasures more exciting and unexpected. Here’s the Sultan Barsbay Mausoleum from the outside.

There are many similar-looking domes in the northern cemetery — I must have seen over 20 of them in the three hours I walked here — but it’s hard to know how old anything is.

Less elaborate tomb areas might look like this.

I think I only saw one other tourist in the cemetery, an Arabic-speaking gentleman about my age. Bring small notes for the caretakers who open the buildings for you. Except at the 15th century Sultan Faraj ibn Barquq Mausoleum (our next stop), everyone seemed fine with 10 egp. Certainly there’s a nice portal and matching detailed minarets,

and opposite those minarets are two domes, mirror images of each other

with matching niches as well. Amazing. Made me think of Shah Jahan’s plan to build a matching tomb across the river from the Taj Mahal.

There’s another domed tomb in the garden.

On the mirror image theme a five-minute walk north brought me to these two complexes which are, I believe, Qurqumas Amir Kabir and Sultan Inal (15th-16th century Mamluk).

These two are more in need of restoration than those three impressive mausoleums to the south (Qaytbay, Barsbay, and Faraj ibn Barquq).

Another five-minute walk to the north is the Mausoleum of Sultan al-Zahir Abu Saeed Qansouh al-Ashrafi, the Mamluk ruler at the end of the 15th century.

In the area south of the Citadel (“one treasure after another,” according to my notes) we find another 16th century Mamluk tomb at the Tarabay Al Sharifi Complex.

The second-to-last of the Mamluk sultans was Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghuri who we can thank for the extensive Al-Ghouri Complex which includes a mosque, madrasa, sabil, kuttab, khanqah, and wekalat.

Al-Ghouri was the first place (only place?) I noticed gameya on the dome on the top of the minbar.

I broke up my Al-Ghouri visit with a quick lunch and then continued on to the wekalat, the Arabic word for caravanserai. This one is notable for the mashrabiya.

Sabil is a public fountain/water distribution center, and kuttab refers to a place for Quran courses. I guess they’re combined in Cairo because they’re often referred to as sabil-kuttab, and apparently they become more common under the Ottomans. For example, here’s (18th century Ottoman) the Sabil-Kuttab of Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda, seemingly sharing the same building with the 15th century Hamam Inal (not pictured). Most sabil-kuttab were locked.

I could get in this one because it’s now used as a souvenir shop. The tilework is notable, but I didn’t manage a good photo. I was most looking forward to getting inside the (18th century Ottoman) Sultan Mustafa III’s sabil-kuttab to see the hand-painted-in-Amsterdam blue tiles depicting scenes from Dutch life. It was locked, and I couldn’t find a key.

Across the street is the historic Sayyidah Zainab Mosque, heavily renovated by the Ottomans in the 16th century and multiple times since then. It’s now a pilgrim destination to pay respects to Sayyidah Zainab, Mohammed’s granddaughter.

Another 16th century Ottoman addition/restoration is the Khayr-Bek Complex. Khayr-Bek was the 2nd Ottoman governor of Egypt and used the adjacent 13th century Amir Alin Aq Palace as his residence. I’m guessing these two photos are the Ottoman additions though it’s Mamluk architecture.

My favorite mosque in the Cairo Citadel Complex was the 16th century Ottoman Sulayman Pasha Mosque. It’s Ottoman architecture according to wikipedia. Certainly the minaret is Ottoman (they call Ottoman minarets pencils in Egypt!),

and this interior architecture is familiar,

but I rarely see such colorful painted decoration in Ottoman mosques. Maybe ’cause we always expect beautiful tiles?

Back in the historic center I loved my visit to Bayt Al-Suhaymi, a 17th century Ottoman palace.

How often do you get to see Ottoman tiles with Egyptian gameya?

I’m sorry I didn’t make it to the 17th century El Set Wasila House, but around the corner I was able to admire the mashrabiya in the 18th century Hawari House.

The most visible mosque in Cairo is the (19th century Ottoman) Mohammed Ali mosque built in the Citadel Compound on the top of the hill like so many grand mosques in İstanbul (e.g. Süleymaniye, Yavuz Sultan Selim, Çamlıca). Its inspiration is İstanbul’s Sultanahmet Mosque which I can sort of see.

The thing I liked best about this mosque was the story of the clocktower above the courtyard. Remember the Luxor Temple obelisk in Paris? Well, it was given in exchange for this clocktower which never worked according to the guide I overheard.

Muhammad Ali also commissioned a sabil-kuttab in the center of the city.

It looks a lot like the nearby Ismail Pasha Sabil-Kuttab, also 19th century.

Just down the hill from the Citadel, immediately opposite (14th century Mamluk) Sultan Hassan Mosque, is the 19th century Rifaei Mosque.

Built 400-500 years after the Mamluk treasures we’re no longer stunned by the woodwork and stonework.

The surprise (?) at Rifaei Mosque is that the best-maintained and most beautiful tomb, made of onyx marble, is that of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. King Farok was in the adjacent room! A family of Iranians were paying their respects when I was there.

The interior of Qubbat Afandina, a 19th century mausoleum, is supposed to be worth seeing, but it was locked up and guarded by dogs when I was there.

An even more recent tomb in the northern cemetery is Ahmed Pasha Hassanein’s Mausoleum (20th century neo-Mamluk style). The cemetery was often a befuddling maze with lots of locked gates. Dogs were a problem is some places. This is as close as I got to Ahmed Pasha Hassanein.

The 19th century rococo Sakakini Palace was covered in scaffolding and closed when I was there. I’m curious to visit after the restoration work.

I did make it to the eclectic early 20th century Manial Palace on the bank of the Nile. Disappointingly, the garden was closed, and there are no views of the river due to the compound’s privacy/security (?) wall.

The clocktower may look familiar from Rabat.

The small jewel of a mosque is full of İznik tiles.

Two sides of mashrabiya.

I loved the reception hall in the residential building. After ostentatious Rastrelli palaces, Manial Palace felt comfortable and livable.

Wikipedia explains: Manial Palace features “a blend of various Islamic art styles, including Fatimid, Mamluk, Ottoman, Andalusian, Persian, and Levantine influences.”

Finally let’s take a look at Baron Empain Palace in Heliopolis though I must be pushing the limit of the Islamic Cairo theme at this point — Baron Empain was not Muslim (was he?), and Heliopolis was not part of Cairo when the palace was built (though it is now).

It’s a mix of Khmer and South Indian Hindu influences.

Do you recognize “Amalthea and Jupiter’s Goat”? There’s another copy in Paris at the Louvre.

Inside was a museum about the industrialist founders of modern Heliopolis, Baron Empain and — surprise! — Boghos Nubar Pasha. At the time of my visit I had recently finished reading Christopher J. Walker’s Armenia: The Survival of a Nation. Boghos Nubar Pasha was part of the Armenian delegation in Paris in 1912 and was still in Paris representing Armenia for the peace conference of 1919. He co-financed the purchase of land to start building modern Heliopolis in 1905.

As for art and architecture this is about as exciting as it got inside the baron’s palace.

Can I manage to bring us into the 21st century? Maybe, but first we have to go back to the 13th century to Rumi and the whirling dervishes. Egypt’s modern folk dance version is called tanoura. I went to a standing-room-only performance one evening at the 16th century Al-Ghouri Complex.

From the very quiet, fairly new (21st century for sure!) Sphinx Airport, I flew the next morning back to Antalya.

This 3½ week journey in Egypt was like three completely separate trips: the Red Sea snorkeling, ancient Egypt sites along the Nile in the south, and Islamic Cairo. Of course there’s much more to see. I’d certainly like to return and spend another month in Egypt.

In addition to the closed sites I already mentioned, here’s what’s already on my Islamic Cairo list for next visit:

• Islamic Art Museum
• Abu Al-Dahab mosque
• El Set Wasila House
• Gamal Eldin
• Sabiel Nafesa Al-Bayda’
• Gayer-Anderson Museum

and the entire southern cemetery which warrants its own list:

• Al-Geyousy Mosque (11th century Fatimid)
• Sayyida Ruqayaa Mausoleum (12th century Fatimid)
• Mausoleum of Imam al-Shafi’i (12th century Ayyubid, but Imam al-Shafi’i himself lived in the 9th century)
• Shajar al-Durr Mausoleum (13th century Ayyubid/Mamluk)
• Amir Qawsn Mausoleum (14th century Mamluk)
• Sultaniyya Mausoleum (14th century Mamluk)
• Sayyeda Nefissah Mosque (originally 9th century Abbasid, but what we see now is 18th century Ottoman)
• El Sayyeda Sekina Mosque and Mausoleum (20th century)

And what about palaces, Coptic churches, Al-Fustat, GEM (still waiting for the grand opening…)?