Citadel of Salah El Din

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Overview

Salah Salem Highway Cairo

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Description

Citadel of Salah El Din dominates Cairo's eastern skyline with its raised rocky platform on the edge of Cairo. Citadel was built by the famed Muslim general Saladin in 1176. The fortress served as Egypt's seat of power for the next 700 years, remodeled in the image of each successive dynasty.

Although Egypt's rulers moved out of their medieval quarters in the 1870s to the newly built Abdeen Palace, but the Citadel retained its military role until the 1970s. Soldires still have a foothold and some areas are out of bounds, but today most of the complex is open to visitors and it is quite possible to spend half a day visiting the various mosques, museums and other monuments within the complex.

The Citadel was home to most of the rulers of Egypt for around seven centuries, each one building mosques and palaces within the walls. One of its last rulers was Mohammed Ali, who gained power by massacring 470 leading Mamluke citizens. In March 1811, most of the important people of the Citadel were invited to a day of feasting by Mohammed Ali, who then proceeded to trap them in the narrow rock-cut passage of the Bab el-Azab on their way to the banquet, and had them slaughtered – so the story goes. This was the end of Egypt’s Mamaluke rule.

Mohammed Ali then proceeded to level most of the Mamaluke buildings and replaced them with his own. His most famous structure is the Mohammed Ali Mosque in the southern enclosure. There are also two other mosques in the Citadel today – the mosque of Ahmed Katkhuda near the Bab el-Azab and the mosque of Sultan el-Nasir Mohammed (14th century) on the east side of the southern enclosure. The mosque of Mohammed Ali, by far the most impressive, is also known as the Alabaster Mosque and was built between 1824 and 1857. His marble tomb is on the right of the entrance and the whole vast space is dominated by the massive central dome, 52m high, in the roof. This and four smaller domes at the corners are lit by circular crystal chandeliers containing dozens of lamps. The sanctuary on the eastern side has a huge pulpit for Koran readings. As in all Islamic mosques, shoes must be left at the doorway.

The courtyard also has arches, domes, and a fountain pavilion for ablutions and at quiet times can be a very peaceful place. In the western arcade there is an ornate ‘gingerbread’ clock, presented to Mohammed Ali by King Louis-Philippe of France in 1845, in exchange for the obelisk from Luxor Temple (now in the Place de la Concorde). It would seem that France got the better part of the deal because the clock has never worked! The mosque is perhaps better viewed from outside, where you can see the huge domes and graceful minarets which have become one of Cairo’s emblems.

To the south of Mohammed Ali’s Mosque is his ‘Jewel Palace’, the Qasr el-Gawhara, which was used as a museum for the jewels of the Khedives after the 1952 revolution. Although gutted by fire in 1972 when thieves attempted to steal the jewels, it is still a museum today and contains many items of royal furniture and portraits.

Just to the south of el-Nasir’s Mosque is a tall tower which covers ‘Joseph’s Well’ (Bir Yusuf), built by Salah ed-Din. The well-shaft is 10m wide and 87m deep and was built by crusader prisoners of war. The well is also known as the ‘Well of the Snail’ for its spiral staircase which runs down the shaft to the level of the Nile.

The northern enclosure of the Citadel has always been the military part of the fortress and has always been used as a prison. Today the area contains three museums. The Archaeological Garden Museum, neither a garden nor a museum, contains some interesting bits and pieces of statues and monument fragments among the seating areas. The War Museum contains exhibits of military paraphernalia from pharaonic times, through Egypt’s history to the present. Outside there are tanks, cannons and other artillery while inside one of the more interesting exhibits is a chariot from Tutankhamun’s tomb, displayed in the entrance. The Carriage Museum contains a small collection of horse-drawn carriages and painted wooden horses from the 19th century.