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There are places in Cairo, and indeed everywhere
in Egypt, where the past can be seen poking through the surface, like
this medieval tower in a parking lot:
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After seven hundred years of debris were excavated,
in order to construct a tunnel and a park, this part of Cairo's city wall,
constructed by Saleh al-Din, was exposed:
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Objective of visit:
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To add the newly exposed sections
of the city wall to the existing maps of medieval Cairo. |
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Date of visit:
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Fall 1998 and spring 1999. |
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Fellow visitors:
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Nicholas Warner. |
| Results: |
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Most of the results of this project
were published in de Annales Islamologiques 1999; 33: 283-305
(IFAO, Cairo). |
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position and date of the site: |
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Both north and south of Sharia
al-Azhar (the road on which the famous al-Azhar mosque is situated),
between the crossing with Sharia al-Mansouria and Saleh Salem
(the road to Cairo Airport), in the eastern part of Cairo.
The walls were built at the end of the twelfth century. This work was started
by Salah al-Din Ayyub, ruler of Egypt at the time and famous for his defense
against the Crusaders. |
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description of the site: |
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The walls and towers are built
of large stone blocks, many of them re-used from temples and other ancient
structures, like the pyramids. They are purely defensive in lay-out, with
narrow corridors, crenellations and arrow-slit windows. It is remarkable
how several of the latter face inside, towards the city, rather than the
outside. Over the centuries large parts have been destroyed, covered in
debris and trash or built over by later buildings. The parts that were visible
at the time have been studied comprehensively by Creswell in 1952 and only
now and again additional parts become available for planning and research. |
| Additional
remarks: |
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This work would not have been possible
without the kind help of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the American
Research Center in Egypt as well as several individuals. |
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