Damanhūr Shubrā

The Citadel of Cairo or Citadel of Saladin (Arabic: قلعة صلاح الدين) is a medieval Islamic-era fortification in Cairo, Egypt, built by Salah ad-Din (Saladin) and further developed by subsequent Egyptian rulers. It was the seat of government in Egypt and the residence of its rulers for nearly 700 years from the 13th to the 19th centuries. Its location on a promontory of the Mokattam hills near the center of Cairo commands a strategic position overlooking the city and dominating its skyline. When …

The Cairo Tower (, Borg El-Qāhira) is a free-standing concrete tower in Cairo, Egypt. At , it was the tallest structure in Egypt for 37 years until 1998, when it was surpassed by the Suez Canal overhead powerline crossing. It was the tallest structure in North Africa for 21 years until 1982, when it was surpassed by the Nador transmitter in Morocco. It was the tallest structure in Africa for one year until 1962, when it was surpassed by Sentech Tower in South Africa. One of Cairo's well-known mo…

Khan el-Khalili (Arabic: خان الخليلي) is a famous bazaar and souq (or souk) in the historic center of Cairo, Egypt. Established as a center of trade in the Mamluk era and named for one of its several historic caravanserais, the bazaar district has since become one of Cairo's main attractions for tourists and Egyptians alike. It is also home to many Egyptian artisans and workshops involved in the production of traditional crafts and souvenirs. The name Khan el-Khalili historically referred to a s…

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum, located in Cairo, Egypt, houses the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world. It houses over 120,000 items, with a representative amount on display. Located in a building built in 1901, it is the largest museum in Africa. Among its masterpieces are Pharaoh Tutankhamun's treasure, including its iconic gold burial mask, widely considered one of the best-known works of art in the world and a prominent symbol of anci…

Tahrir Square (Arabic: ميدان التحرير , , English: Liberation Square), also known as "Martyr Square", is a major public town square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The square has been the location and focus for political demonstrations in Cairo since the early 20th century; the city's previous central square was Salah al-Din Square. The 2011 Egyptian revolution and the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak occurred at the Tahrir Square. History The square was originally called "Ismailia Square" ( ), …

Islamic Cairo (Arabic: قاهرة المعز), or Medieval Cairo, officially Historic Cairo (القاهرة التاريخية al-Qāhira tārīkhiyya) refers mostly to the areas of Cairo, Egypt, that were built from the Muslim conquest in 641 CE until the city's modern expansion in the 19th century during Khedive Ismail's rule, namely: the central parts within the old walled city, the historic cemeteries, the area around the Citadel of Cairo, parts of Bulaq, and Old Cairo () which dates back to Roman times and includes maj…

Heliopolis (, , ,  "New Egypt") was an early 20th Century suburb outside Cairo, Egypt, which has since merged with Cairo and is administratively divided into the districts of Masr al-Gadida and al-Nozha in the Eastern Area. Named after the ancient Egyptian city of Heliopolis where its ruins have been found nearby in present day Ain Shams, modern Heliopolis was established in 1905 by the Heliopolis Oasis Company headed by the Belgian industrialist Édouard Empain and by Boghos Nubar, son of the Eg…

The Qalawun complex (Arabic: مجمع قلاون) is a massive pious complex in Cairo, Egypt, built by Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun from 1284 to 1285. It is located at Bayn al-Qasrayn on al-Mu'izz street and like many other pious complexes includes a hospital (bimaristan), a madrasa and mausoleum. Despite controversy surrounding its construction, this building is widely regarded as one of the major monuments of Islamic Cairo and of Mamluk architecture, notable for the size and scope of its contributions to l…

The Aqmar Mosque (), was built in Cairo, Egypt, as a neighborhood mosque by the Fatimid vizier al-Ma'mun al-Bata'ihi in 1125-6 CE (519 Hijri). The mosque is situated on what was once the main avenue and ceremonial heart of Cairo, known today as al-Mu'izz Street, in the immediate neighborhood of the former Fatimid caliphal palaces. The mosque is an important monument of Fatimid architecture and of historic Cairo due to the exceptional decoration of its exterior façade and the innovative design of…

The al-Hussein Mosque or al-Husayn Mosque, also known as the Mosque of al-Imam al-Husayn (Arabic: مسجد الإمام ٱلحُسين) and the Mosque of Sayyidna al-Husayn, is a mosque and mausoleum of Husayn ibn Ali, originally built in 1154, and then later reconstructed in 1874. The mosque is located in Cairo, Egypt, near the Khan El-Khalili bazaar, near-by the famous Al Azhar Mosque, in an area known as Al-Hussain. It is considered to be one of the holiest Islamic sites in Egypt. Some Shia Muslims believe th…

The Cairo Marriott Hotel is a large hotel located in the Zamalek district of Gezira Island in Egypt and is just west of Downtown Cairo. It is one of the tallest buildings in Cairo. The Marriott opened in 1982, but its central wing was built as the Gezirah Palace for the Khedive Isma'il Pasha in 1869 and converted to a luxury hotel in 1894. Hotel The hotel consists of 1,087 rooms, making it one of the largest hotels in the Middle East. The rooms are located in two identical twenty-story buildings…

Abdeen District is the home of Abdeen Palace (Arabic: قصر عابدين), a 19th Century Cairo palace built by Khedive Ismail and served as Egypt's seat of government from 1874 until the July Revolution in 1952. Since then it is one of the presidential palaces. The palace is centered in its eponymous district, administratively part of the Western Area of Cairo, and part of the Khedival Cairo Area of Value to the west of Historic Cairo. Overview Built on the site of a small mansion owned by Abdeen Bey, …

The Qasr el Nil Bridge (originally named Khedive Ismail Bridge, Egyptian Arabic: Asr el Nil Bridge), is a historic swing bridge structure dating from 1931 which replaced the first bridge to span the Nile River in central Cairo, Egypt. It connects Tahrir Square in Downtown Cairo on the east bank of the river, to the southern end of Gezira/Zamalek Island. At the bridge's east and west approaches are four large bronze lion statues; they are late 19th-century works by Henri Alfred Jacquemart, Frenc…

The Mosque of Amir Altinbugha al-Maridani, dating from 1340 CE, is a mosque from the era of the Mamluk Sultanate of Cairo, Egypt. Located south of Bab Zuweila, in the Darb al-Ahmar neighbourhood, it was built on the outskirts of medieval Cairo by Amir Altinbugha al-Maridani, with significant help from Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad. The mosque has a hypostyle plan similar to the Mosque of al-Nasir, and its exterior walls are decorated in typical Mamluk architecture style. At the time of its building, …

All Saints' Cathedral, Cairo was consecrated in 1988 and is the home of the Episcopal/Anglican Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa. The cathedral is located close to the Marriott Hotel in Zamalek, a residential area of the city that sits on an island in the middle of the River Nile. The building and land were donated by the Egyptian government. The cathedral compound also houses the Diocesan and Bishop's offices and projects and services – including the Diocese NGO EpiscoCa…

The Unknown Soldier Memorial in Cairo is a pyramid-shaped monument in Nasr City. Its construction was ordered by president Anwar Sadat in 1974 in honor of Egyptians and Arabs who lost their lives in the 1973 October War. It was inaugurated in October 1975. The site was also chosen for the president's tomb after his assassination in October 1981. The monument is made of concrete and resembles a hollow pyramid, with a height of 25 meters, and a base width of 14.3 meters. The four pillars are 1.9 m…

Mogamma el Tahrir (Egyptians name it: مجمع التحرير and is translated as : Compound of Liberation ) is a government building in Cairo, Egypt. The Mogamma was the result of a series of master plans for Esamailiyya Square (now Tahrir Square), which used to be occupied by the British barracks. In 1945 when King Farouk ordered the demolition of the barracks upon the departure of British troops from the area, a series of urban planning proposals ensued. The idea for a centralised, all-in-one administ…

The Cairo International Stadium (Arabic: ستاد القاهرة الدولي), formerly known as Nasser Stadium, is an Olympic-standard, multi-use stadium with an all-seated capacity of 75,000. The architect of the stadium is the German Werner March, who had built from 1934 to 1936 the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. The engineering and construction supervision work of the stadium was performed by ACE Moharram Bakhoum. It is the 69th largest stadium in the world. Located in Nasr City; a suburb north east of Cairo, i…

The Mosque of Sultan al-Mu'ayyad (Arabic: مسجد السلطان المؤيد) is a Mosque in Cairo, Egypt next to Bab Zuwayla built under the rule of sultan Al-Mu'ayyad Sayf ad-Din Shaykh from whom it takes its name, "Al-Mu'ayyad", meaning The Supporter in Arabic language. Construction began in 1415 and the mosque was completed in 1421. The complex included a Friday mosque and a madrasa for four madhhabs. It replaced a prison which originally stood next to Bab Zuwayla. History Sultan al-Mu'ayyad In keeping wit…

Agouza (Arabic: العجوزة) is one of nine municipal districts that form Giza city, which is part of the Greater Cairo metropolis, on the western bank of the river Nile. It is situated between 6th October Bridge and 15 May Bridge and is north of Dokki and south of Imbaba. Most of it is colloquially known as Mohandessin, a 1950s planned community originally called Madinat al-Awqaf, sub-divided in to a number of profession-based housing cooperatives, one of which was for engineers (mohandissin). The …

St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral is a Coptic church located in the Abbassia District in Cairo, Egypt. The cathedral is the Seat of the Coptic Orthodox Pope. It was built during the time when Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria was Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and was consecrated on 25 June 1968. The church is dedicated to St. Mark the Evangelist, an apostle of Jesus and founder of the Coptic Orthodox Church. Relics of his life are kept inside. It was, until 2019, (after the inauguration of th…

Bayt Al-Suhaymi ("House of Suhaymi") is a Traditional Egyptian Islamic themed house and museum in Cairo, Egypt. It was originally built in 1648 by Abdel Wahab el Tablawy along the Darb al-Asfar, a very prestigious and expensive part of Islamic Cairo. In 1796 it was purchased by Sheikh Ahmed as-Suhaymi whose family held it for several subsequent generations. The Sheikh greatly extended the house from its original through incorporating neighbouring houses into its structure. The house is built ar…

El Matareya (Arabic: المطرية ) is a district in the Eastern Area of Cairo, Egypt. The district is unrelated to the coastal town in the Dakahlia Governorate, that is also named El Matareya. The district holds the ruins of the ancient Egyptian city of Heliopolis, one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt. Name The name, El Matareya, is thought to come from the Latin word which means 'mother', and is from the presence of the 'tree of the Virgin Mary' in this district. History El Matareya, with th…

The Institut d'Égypte or Egyptian Scientific Institute is a learned society in Cairo specializing in Egyptology. It was established in 1798 by Napoleon Bonaparte to carry out research during his Egyptian campaign and is the oldest scientific institute in Egypt. The building in which it was housed was burnt down, with the loss of many documents, during the Arab Spring unrest of 2011. It reopened in December 2012. Early work The Institut d'Égypte was founded on 22 August 1798 by Napoleon Bonaparte…