A Visit to the Citadel

June 21, 2006

Sitting above Cairo is its citadel, striking for the pure bulk of its construction. It struck me the other day when I was at the ruins of Fustat that the building was overwhelmingly with brick.. and that style of construction would not have demanded much in the way of quarrying for stone. The citadel.. well, that's another story. Its thirst for stone led to the dismantling of some of the smaller pyramids at Giza..

To understand the citadel one has to keep in mind Cairo;s pattern of urban growth. Every new ruling party disdains to live in the same place as the last ruling party. Their tactic is to open a new administrative palace outside the main city.. which also receives its own name. Over time the businesses and population migrate to the new center. Cairo was the administrative center for the Fatimids.. and it eventually became the name for the entire urban conglomerate. When the Fatimids fell, and Salah al-Din took over, he did not stay in Cairo, but began construction on the brow of a hill to the south.. and this became the citadel.

Maqrizi has an interesting account of the citadel's construction:

The reason for its construction was that the Sultan Salah al-Din Yusaf ibn Ayyub, when he removed the Fatimid state from Egypt and possessed its command alone, did not move out of [his old residence at the] House of the Minister and continued to fear for his life from those left of the Shi'a Fatimids in Egypt as well as from Malak al-'Adil the Sultan of Syria... [There follows an account of some political maneuvering.. I love the presence of Fatimid "dead-enders" in the account!]

It is said that the reason which called him to choose the location of the citadel is that he hung some meat in Cairo, and it went bad after one day and one night. Then he hung the meat of another animal in the current location of the citadel, but it did not go bad except after two days and two nights. So he ordered at that time the erection of the citadel there.

The prince Baha' al-Din Qaraqush occupied himself with its construction. He began building the citadel and he also built the walls of Cairo, which he extended, in the year 572 AH. [In the process of this extension] he destroyed what was there in the way of mosques, removed tombs, and destroyed the small pyramids which were at Giza facing Fustat, along with many other places. He transported what he discovered there in the way of stones and built with them the walls, the citadel, and the bridges of Giza. He meant to make the walls enclose Fustat, the citadel, and Cairo. The Sultan died before he could complete his design for the walls, the citadel, and the bridge. [2: 202]

The citadel is quite hard to navigate. Many parts that look interesting are closed to visitors. Extraneous museums dedicated to the police and the military are present.. which require new constructions and the closing off of more space. I was particularly heartbroken at my inability to see the 'Well of Yusaf" which was noted as one of the wonders of Egypt.. The result is this vast center that is largely impenetrable for a visitor. I would think that this area could have been turned into a fascinating (and expensive) guided tour that would descend into the depths of this literal city on a hill.. a bit like all those "underground" city tours in places like New York or Paris.

The most striking contemporary aspect of the citadel is the giant mosque of Muhammad 'Ali (1830-48 AD), whose spires have become a part of the iconography of Cairo. And I admit that from a distance this has now become a welcome sight to me. but the mosque itself looks terrible close up. Unless size truly is all that matters, this one is amazingly bad.

Noticeable first is the complete break that this mosque represents with Egypt's architectural past. The design is wholly Turkish. Doris Behrens-Abouseif notes:

It is, however, paradoxical that while politically Muhammad 'Ali acted quite independently of Istanbul, architecturally during his reign style came closer to that of Istanbul than ever before, including its Western, particularly French, influence. Muhammad 'Ali's Cairo set out to abandon the Middle Ages and begin the modern Western Age, in effect, to surpass Istanbul. [168]

Fittingly, Behrens-Abouseif ends her book on the Islamic architecture of Cairo with this mosque. It closes the door on the past.. not with a glorious new start, but with a shudderingly bad imitation of Istanbul.

One thing that has always puzzled me is why the paneling on the mosque looks so dirty and plain bad. Apparently alabaster was used.. which is pretty.. but "inappropriate for architecture as it deteriorates quickly" (170).

In the Turkish scheme there are two main units that make up the mosque. There is the courtyard.. pictured above.. which is recognizable from earlier mosques for its colonnades and the fountain for ablution in the center. But then on the qiblah side.. the side facing Mecca.. there is a gigantic structure that now stands as the actual mosque. In earlier mosques the qiblah side was larger.. sometime even with a dome.. but it was recognizably a part of the courtyard. No more.

It is to the interior that people flock. Note the ornate minbars (pulpits) in the above picture. The whole thing is just too much. But mysteriously people love it instead of feeling rage.

I should clarify here that I love Turkish architecture. Some of the most stunning mosques in the world are in Turkey. The Turkish iznak tiles are some of the most beautiful creations ever.. My problem is with this particular mosque.