Lunch and Al-Muizz Street (Tour Continuation)

Lunch at Naguib Mahfouz Restaurant in Khan al-Khalili: Lunch was at a traditionally decorated restaurant in the heart of Cairo's noisy bazaar area. The staff wore customary waiters' outfits; the ceiling was of long, linear arches with colorful tiling. Starters were Arabic bread, baba ghanouj, and chopped cucumber in yoghurt. My entrée was kofta, grilled lamb pieces (very tender), grilled vegetables, and rice. Many types of smoothies and fruit drinks were available. Some customers were smoking shisha in the café portion.

Muizz Street: Al-Muizz li-Din Allah Street was named for the Fatimid caliph who conquered Cairo in 969 AD and was the main street of medieval Cairo. The wall of the ancient Fatimid City had eight gates of which 3 remain. Our bus parked close to Bab al-Zuwayla (named after members of the Fatimid army who hailed from a North African Berber tribe called the Zuwayli), which marks the southern end of the Fatimid city, as Bab al-Futuh (Gate of the Conquest [literally Gate of the Opening]) marks the north. Al-Muizz, the central artery of medieval Cairo, runs (.6 mile long) from the latter through the former. Between the Two Palaces: The Fatimid general who organized the town (Al-Qahirah) did so in such a way that the caliphal palace was at the center. Fifty years after the construction of the first palace, another smaller palace was erected to the west of the first. The area and plaza between these two palaces received the name of “Bayn al-Qasrayn”. This name still marks the area, even though later dynasties destroyed all the original Fatimid buildings. The site influenced a novel by the Egyptian Nobel prize winner, Naguib Mahfouz. Palace Walk is a novel by the author. Originally published with the title Bayn al-Qasrayn (lit. Between the Two Palaces), the book was translated into English as Palace Walk. The setting of the novel is Cairo during and just after World War I. It begins in 1917, during World War I, and ends in 1919, the year of the nationalist revolution. The book's Arabic title, literally meaning "between two palaces," highlights the cultural and political transition Egypt experienced at this time, developments brought into focus by the lives of the Al-Gawad family.

Mashrabiyya Windows: Muizz street is lined with many buildings displaying the distinctive architectural style of Islam -- embellishment with fine mashrabiya (decorative woodwork) façades. Fountain-School: Sabil-Kuttab of Katkhuda is one of the most important monuments in this old part of Islamic Cairo, Egypt. This building is an example of Ottoman and Mamluk architecture mixed with Islamic architecture. The Sabil-Kuttab was constructed to achieve maximum availability–at the juncture of two streets and thus able to have three free-standing sides. Sabils and Kuttabs were almost everywhere in old Islamic Cairo during Mamluk and Ottoman times. Sabils are facilities providing free, fresh water for thirsty people who are passing by. Kuttabs are religious schools that teach children to read and write the Qur'an.

Al-Aqmar Mosque: This mosque (The Moonlit) is one of the few dating from Fatimid times. Its façade is inscribed with a medallion including the names of both Muhammad and Ali, indicating that it is a Shiite mosque. The name Ali is at the center of the ornamentation with Muhammad around the periphery. The entrance is covered by a ribbed and fluted ridge within outer bands of simple geometric design. This is an open enclosure mosque, rectangular in plan. The site was originally occupied by a Coptic monastery. Restoration has been carried out by the Bohara Indian sect.

Bayt al-Suhaymi: Branching off Muizz Street is a fine mashrabiya window-lined passage, where Bayt Al-Suhaymi or (Al-Suhaymy House) is found–a great example of Ottoman-style architecture. Photo to left is actually an embellishment from the Sabil-Kuttab mentioned above. When sabils first appeared in Cairo in the fourteenth century, they were attached to mosques and other religious buildings that were founded by sultans and elite members. Later, wealthy men and women built them as separate structures at prominent locations in the city. Only in Cairo was an elementary school, called a kuttab, included in the same building, above the sabil. These sabil-kuttabs became a standard feature of the city’s landscape. When Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt in 1798, his surveyors counted more than three hundred of them in Cairo.

Mosque of Al-Hakim: The mosque is named after Imam Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, the sixth Fatimid caliph, the 16th Ismaili imam, and the first Fatimid ruler to have been born in Egypt. Hakim's erratic behavior left a controversial legacy. Al-Hakim used to wander alone at night on his donkey in the Muqattam hills. One night, he mysteriously disappeared, probably killed. A vizier of his called Darazi fled to Syria where he preached his divinity, founding the Druze sect. Its two corner minarets, different in shape and decoration, are encased in projecting trapezoidal stone structures that project into the street. The tops were replaced in 1303 during the Mamluk period after an earthquake destroyed the upper portions. The Bohara Indian sect has been active in restoring this mosque and many Fatimid-era buildings in Cairo. Dawoodi Bohra is a subsect of Ismaili Shia Islam. The Dawoodi Bohra trace their belief system back to Yemen, where it evolved from the Fatimid Caliphate and where they were persecuted due to their differences from mainstream Sunni Islam and Zaydi Shia Islam. Before the northern gate is a building that housed the huge cistern which supplied water to the surrounding area.

Bab al-Futuh: Bab al-Futuh is one of three existing gates of the Fatimid walls of Cairo. The square-towered Bab al-Nasr (Gate of Victory) and the rounded Bab al-Futuh were built in 1087 as the two principal northern entrances to the walled Fatimid city of Al-Qahira. Finally, an interesting, informative, even inspirational day has ended. Note on the Fatimids: The Fatimids (descendants of the Prophet's daughter Fatima and her husband Ali) founded Al-Qahira shortly after the taking of Fustat in 969 . Al-Qahira was designed to house only the governing elite; the population of Fustat was not initially allowed to settle here. As Shia Muslims, the ruling dynasty held different religious views from the Sunni Egyptian population. Al-Qahira, the area of modern Cairo now called "Islamic," formed the centre of the city up until the mid-nineteenth century.