The Citadel

Today I went back to Islamic Cairo, and this time I got to actually go atop the Citadel, rather than see it from afar. The Citadel is a massive fortress atop a mountain in the middle of Islamic Cairo, and was constructed in the medieval period. It's a major tourist destination, so I saw lots of Arab school groups, along with some French, British, and Chinese tour groups. Admission is only 25 LE for students for everything inside the Citadel.

The most famous landmark is the Mosque of Mohammed Ali. It's relatively new, as it was built during the reign of Mohammed Ali in the 19th century, but architecturally it's very impressive; it's a Turkish-style mosque. This is the only building you can see clearly from outside the Citadel, due to its size.

Exterior and interior of Mosque of Mohammed Ali.



Afterward I went to the National Military Museum, which was a great visit. The museum building itself once served as the residence for the royal family, so it was built like a mansion. Inside were displays of uniforms, weapons, busts, and other artifacts, from Islamic to present times. The most fascinating part of the museum was the way everything was presented, since it was essentially a collection of nationalist propaganda. Exhibits highlighted Egypt's role in World War I and II and the heroics of the wars against Israel. The exhibits that mentioned President Mubarak (who is a former Air Force General) described him as a brilliant military hero. The best part was that all the English translations were abyssmal, making the exaggerated descriptions even more comical.

Displays outside the military museum.



A MiG-21, evidence of Soviet military support. I know that the Egyptian Air Force actually has a few MiGs still operational.


Exhibits within the military museum.


One of the lavishly decorated hallways of the museum as a former royal residence.


A ridiculous dramatization of President Hosny Mubarak.



I went into the National Police Museum, but it was very small and uninteresting, so I didn't spend much time there.

Outside of the police museum is a terrace with some of the best views of the city I've seen. I could see the Pyramids of Giza, Pyramids of Saqqara, Cairo Tower, all of Islamic Cairo, the Mosque of Sultan Hassan, and everything in between.

View of Cairo from the Citadel. The large mosque in the front is the Mosque of Sultan Hassan.





I was there just at the right time - 3:30 - which is one of the five calls to prayer. Normally when I hear the call to prayer from my apartment, I can hear only one or two mosques at a time. The location of the Citadel atop a mountain and the large number of mosques in Islamic Cairo meant that I could clearly hear dozens and dozens of mosques giving the call to prayer all at once, which is somewhat haunting.

Here is a video showing the call to prayer from the Citadel.




I also went into the Mosque of Nasr Mohammad, located right next to the Mosque of Mohammed Ali.

Interior of the Mosque of Nasr Mohammad


I decided to walk to and from the Citadel, which meant I got to see much more than just riding in a cab. I probably covered seven or eight miles walking today. In my walk back to Downtown, I passed along al-Azhar Street, which is at the edge of Khan al-Khalili market. It was not a good time to pass through there - so many people, so little room. Getting by required a lot of patience, as foot traffic just came to a complete stop. I haven't been to the middle of Khan al-Khalili yet, but if it's anything like that, I won't enjoy that.

It can't be seen from the photos above, but while I was on the Citadel I noticed plumes of smoke rising all the way from Downtown. Since I was heading that direction, I decided to see what happened. The fire was in Attaba, a little bit north of Downtown. There was a crowd watching, and when I mean a crowd, I mean there were at least a thousand people watching the apartment burn. The firemen did not seem very effective. The news article I read online mentioned that the fire was in a historic building and that 17 people were injured.

Fire in Attaba