Cairo Image: Entrance to Citadel
from L'Art arabe d'après les monuments du Kaire, by Prisse d'Avennes
This image from 1877 by Prisse d’Avennes captures the monumental entrance to the Citadel of Cairo. I was standing at that entrance this summer and took the following photo:
MS
The towers are now in notably better shape than they were at the end of the 19th century. The tops especially have been repaired and squared off. The 19th century image presents an unbroken path leading up to the monumental gate. Today that approach is broken up by the decorative small turrets standing in front of the monumental entrance. This means the entrance is approached by means of a stairway that ascends from the right or left. My guess is that this gave more room for the street and cars, since the ascent to the gate could now be contained in a narrower area. Those small turrets are thus clearly a pretty late addition. To conclude here is a detail of the Gate:
MS
Any ideas of when the gate was built?
Aside:I used to love looking at the Citadel hill, but ever since learning that the Muhammad Ali Mosque was a recent structure built upon purposely destroyed Mamluke buildings, I now get annoyed whenever I see even photos of the place.
Hello,
Yes, the more one knows about the destruction of the Citadel to build the Muhamamd Ali Mosque, the more it becomes hard to like that building. And with such a rich heritage of Egyptian Islamic architecture, that mosque completely turns its back on Egypt and tries to imitate the Ottomans.. poorly! I will see if I can find something on the gate, I am curious too. My sense is that many things connected to the Citadel are tough to date because it was such an ongoing work. But there ought to be something about this gate in Nasser Rabat’s book on the Citadel..