Dec 3 - Islamic/Coptic day. Early rise and up the hill to the Cairo Citadel. This fortification was completed by Saladin in the late 1100’s, and was the main residence of the rulers from then until the 19th century. Much of the architectural style reflects the Mamluks, who were the next dynasty to rule Egypt.
The Muhammad Ali Mosque on the Citadel grounds. It is almost carbon-copy Ottoman style from Istanbul.
A lot of marble work here.
This clocktower was a gift from the French, in exchange for a Pharaonic obelisk.
The mihrab and minbar of Muhammad Ali Mosque.
Like Aya Sofia, after which much of the design derives, it has a high, cavernous interior.
A good view of Cairo from the ramparts.
Next, down the hill to a few mosques nearby. At the entrance, there are two cats attempting to copulate, so this begins a lively discussion with Odette on what they are doing.
The Sultan Rifay Mosque (right), and the Sultan Hassan Mosque (left).
The Sultan Rifay Mosque was constructed in the late 1800’s in a predominately Mamluk style.
The tomb of Islma’il Pasha, located inside the mosque.
A number of famous people are buried here, including King Farouk (d. 1965). He was the last king of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty, that ruled Egypt from 1803 (most of it under the theoretical rule of the Ottomans).
Also buried here is Muhammad Reza Pahlavi, last of the Pahlavi Dynasty in Iran. The Pahlavi and Muhammad Ali Dynasty are connected by the marriage of the Egyptian Princess Fawzia to the Iranian Crown Prince in 1939.
The huge interior of the Sultan Rifay Mosque.
The Sultan Hassan Mosque next door was constructed by Egyptian architects and brings a sort of ancient grandeur with its massive arches.
The mihrab of Sultan Hassan Mosque.
One of the four doors in the courtyard that led to the four disciplines of the madresa that used to function here.
From here head down the street to the Gayer-Anderson Museum. This is one of the best examples of 17th century architecture left in Cairo. It exists only because its benefactor, Gayer-Anderson Pasha, bought it and thus saved it from being demolished to expand the nearby mosque. It is actually two houses, linked by a few elevated walkways.
In front of the house are flasks, free to be used by the public to dip into water and have a drink.
A closet door in the Persian Room. Gayer-Anderson had themed rooms, including Egyptian, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, and Persian. One room also holds authentic ancient Egyptian antiquities, purchased in a time when such transactions were legal.
A gong.
Literally at the wall of the Gayer-Anderson Museum is Ibn Tulun Mosque, an example of Abbasid architecture and one of the oldest mosques in Egypt (as well as in Africa).
It has one of the most unusual minarets, probably unique, with a spiral staircase.
From the top of the minaret there is a great view into the courtyard of the mosque.
Also a view of Cairo, in all its dusty, broken-down splendor.
Get in a long line of traffic into Garbage City, a district of Cairo reserved for Coptic Christians. It is literally that, a place where all the garbage of the city is sent for processing. Here, it is separated for recycling. It is not pleasant smelling, and the flies are thick throughout. Coptic Christians have not been a favored ethnic group in Egypt, sadly reminiscent of lower castes in India. The decision that they would henceforth sort garbage was an order given by Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1950’s.
Behind Garbage City, in the side of a cliff of Moqattam Hills, is the Virgin Mary and St. Simon the Tanner Cathedral. It is dedicated to Simon the Tanner, a 10th century Coptic Orthodox man who did many gracious deeds for the poor and became a well-known pious person in Cairo. He is credited with convincing the Fatimid Caliph al-Muizz Lideenillah, through a miracle, that the Coptic Orthodox residents of Cairo should have a place in the city where they could worship and live in peace.
One of the gathering chambers in the chuch, at the base of the cliff. Some of the limestone rock is natural, while they have created fake rocks to fill in gaps.
St. Simon, usually depicted with one eye, and carrying water flasks. Prayers written on paper have been stuffed in the gaps around this image.
The surrounding cliff walls have been decorated with Biblical quotes and associated images.
Christians, and apparently some Muslims, come here for faith healing.
For some reason Odette was all taken with the fake trees in the picnic area.
Across town to another area of Coptic Cairo, near the site of Al Fustat. Here we enter the Hanging Church, called that because it was constructed by placing palm logs over the foundation of an old Roman temple. The ceiling is meant to resemble Noah’s Ark.
There are many relics in the church, though they are all covered up.
A niche in the outer wall of the church.
FUN FACT: Prior to the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 639 CE, all Egyptians were known as ‘Copts’. But after the conquest, the terms applied only to Christian Egyptians.
There is a subterranean room here, directly under the alter, in which it is said the Holy Family hid during their flight to Egypt to escape Herod.
Next door is St. George Orthodox Church. The design is immediately recognizable after our months in the Balkans.
End of the tour for today. Return to our crowded and busy hotel area, and eat at Kazaz, a sort of fast food joint with all Egyptian and Lebanese dishes.
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