Cairo Governorate Egypt | Cairo History
Cairo history
the city was founded during the Fatimid dynasty by el Muez le din Allah el Fatemi or el-hakim be Amr Allah and he gave it the name of Cairo or in Arabic el Kahera (the victorious). it knew also as the city of a thousand minarets due to the numerous mosques, castles, and churches located within it. it is famous for being the capital of Egypt. it is the center of culture, art, and beauty in Egypt.
Cairo's most famous attractions:-
1-the Egyptian museum
The museum was supported in 1857 by French archaeologist Auguste Mariette and affected its current home – within the distinctive powder-pink mansion in Downtown Cairo – in 1897.
the gathering is poorly labeled and not well begun because of limits of area (and solely a fraction of its total holdings are literally on display).
It suffers from some empty cases because of artifacts having already been transferred to the so-far sealed new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), however, you will be impressed by the beauty of the exhibits.
The treasures displayed here were all found within the grave of Tutankhamun successor of Amenophis IV (later Akhenaten) who died at the age of eighteen.
The tomb, discovered by Egyptologists within the valley of the Kings in 1922, contained the biggest Associate in Nursing's richest assemblage of grave merchandise ever found intact in an Egyptian grave. Tutankhamun's cast and sarcophagi (Room 3), the pharaoh's lion throne (Room 35), and his fascinating wardrobe assortment (Room 9).
The Tutankhamun Galleries are positively being affected and can kind the highlight exhibition inside the new GEM. Meanwhile, in the Gregorian calendar month of 2020, the Egyptian deposit's Royal Mummies assortment was transferred to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilizations (NMEC) to additional share out the large quantity of Egypt's swayer material resources between Cairo's museums.
This newly discovered tomb as well as many other beautiful rock-cut burials of the famous Pharaohs can be explored shortly in the valley of kings through Luxor day tours also if you can board the train for a couple of hours north you can also cover it during Aswan day tours or even our 2 days tour to Luxor from Aswan there are a lot of Egypt day tours that go to Luxor from the various Egyptian cities like Hurgada day tours by land to Luxor or if you come for a leisurely holiday in Sharm you can take the plane for one day during Sharm El Sheikh excursions to explore all of the historical city.
Al-Azhar house of worship is the finest building of Cairo's Fatimid era and one of the city's earliest living mosques, completed in AD 972.
It's also one of the world's oldest universities – Khalifah El-Aziz conferred it with the standing of university in AD 988 (the different universities vying for "oldest" standing is in Fes) and these days, Al-Azhar University remains the leading system center of the monotheism world.
The main entrance is the Gate of the Barbers on the northwest of the building, contiguous to the neo-Arab facade designed by Abbas II.
Across the yard is the main prayer hall, spanning a huge three,000 sq. meters.
3- Coptic Cairo
This tiny church-filled cluster of winding laneways lies inside the walls of a recent urban center, wherever the Roman Emperor Marcus Ulpius Traianus initially designed a defense on the river.
Parts of the Roman towers still command most streets.
This tiny church-filled cluster of winding laneways lies inside the walls of a recent urban center, wherever the Roman Emperor Marcus Ulpius Traianus initially designed a defense on the river.
Parts of the Roman towers still command most streets.
The Coptic museum here contains a wealth of knowledge on Egypt's early Christian amount and is home to at least one of Egypt's finest collections of Coptic art.
Next door, the 9th-century Hanging Church contains some lovely samples of Coptic design. supported within the fourth century, the church was originally designed over the Roman gate towers (hence the name) and was considerably remodeled throughout the ninth century.
For many Christian travelers, the important highlight of a visit to the present district is the Church of St. Sergius and Greco-Roman deity, wherever native legend says The Virgin blessed Virgin Mary, baby Jesus, and family secure throughout King Herod's massacre of male babies.
Farther into the quarter, you come back to the mount Ezra tabernacle, which is claimed to be designed close to the spot wherever the baby Moses was found within the reeds. Just outside the quarter, you'll conjointly visit the house of worship of Amr Ibn al-As; the primary house of worship inbuilt in Egypt.
4- Khan el-Khalili
This souq (bazaar) may be a labyrinthine assortment of thin alleyways established as a looking district in AD 1400, that still rings with the clang of metal staff and silversmiths.
The main streets have way back given themselves over fully to the holidaymaker trade (with lots of low-cost papyrus footage and plastic pyramids on display), however, divert off the most drag into the encompassing alleyways, and also the little stores and littered workshops are a number of the most effective places to go to select up ancient merchandise in Egypt.
While here, stop in at Cairo's most illustrious coffeehouse, Fishawis, wherever syrupy Arabic occasional and sweet teas are dish-shaped dead set tourists and native merchants alike at a rapid-fire pace.
For shoppers, the most souq road is Al-Muski Street (called Gawhar al-Qaid Street at its Japanese end).
The gold and silver workshops principally congregate simply north of this street's intersection with Al-Muizz Li-Din Supreme Being Street, whereas the spice market section is simply to the south.
The market is hemmed in on its Japanese aspect by the Sayyidna el-Husein house of worship, inbuilt in 1792 to honor the Prophet Muhammad's grandchild.
5- the citadel
Cairo's stronghold was engineered by Salah-ad-Din Yusuf ibn-Ayyub in 1176.
The original structure he arranged has long disappeared aside from the Japanese outer walls, however, an inheritance of rulers has created their own additions here.
The masjid of Muhammad Ali is the most notable monument and therefore the main reason for visiting. Nicknamed the "Alabaster masjid," its white stone and tall, disproportionately slender minarets square measure one amongst Cairo's nice landmarks.
The other huge reason to return over here square measure the views across the city; head to the Gawhara Terrace for the most effective panorama in the city.
Just to the northeast of the Muhammad Ali masjid is that the El-Nasir masjid, in-built 1318-35 by Mohammad el-Nasir.
A collection of rather half-hearted museums (the Police deposit, National Military deposit, and Carriage Museum) take up a number of the opposite buildings on the website and square measure a lot of worthy viewing for the design of the particular buildings instead of the exhibits themselves.
6-Sultan Hassan masjid
one of the best samples of Mamluk design in the world, grand Turk Hassan masjid could be a vision of monotheism prowess with an Associate in Nursing abundance of cylinder particularization and complex arabesque options.
It was in-built 1356-63 for the grand Turk Hassan el-Nasir.
The massive main threshold at the north corner is sort of twenty-six meters high, and therefore the tower at the south corner is the tallest in Cairo at eighty-one. 5 meters.
The main threshold leads into a rounded vestibule, on the far side that square measure a little vestibule Associate in Nursingd a passageway leading into the ornate open Court focused around a washing fountain.
From here, the Associate in Nursing iron door leads into the sultan's sepulcher wherever the stalactitic pendentives of the initial dome still survive. within the center of the chamber is the sultan's straightforward coffin.
Directly facing the grand Turk Hassan masjid is the El-Rifai masjid, in-built 1912 to deal with the grave of vicereine Ismail and made to duplicate its older adjoining neighbor.
7-Nilometer
Roda Island – simply south of Gezira Island – is home to Monastirli Palace, once the residence of the Associate in Nursing Ottoman Pacha.
Inside the palace gardens, right at the island's southern tip, is Cairo's Nilometer, which was wont to live the ebb and flow of the Nile and predict the annual flood heights.
Unlike the Nilometers you will see in Upper Egypt (such because of the living Nilometer on gargantuan Island in Aswan), this one could be an abundant later construction, in-built AD 861.
Also within the palace grounds is the tiny Umm Khalthum deposit, that celebrates the life of Egypt's illustrious opera star.
Umm Khalthum (1898-1975) is the Arab world's beloved songster, and you will hear her music all over your move into Egypt, blasted out onto the road from Ahwaz (traditional coffeehouses) and on the stereo of nearly every taxi.
8- Al-Azhar Park
Built over what was basically a medieval dump, Al-Azhar Park is the inexperienced lungs of the recent district.
It was opened in 2005 and provides a far-required respite to the overcrowded chaos of Cairo's street hustle.
Inside, the gloriously manicured gardens square measure a stunning place for a night stroll, particularly because the views over the whole recent town square measure beautiful from here at sunset.
There are one or two restaurants on-site, thus it is an excellent spot to place your feet up once a protracted day of looking.
If you return on the weekend, the park is packed packed with native families escaping the encircling roar of traffic that cocoons the remainder of Cairo.
Al-Azhar Park is most simply visited by taking a taxi, however, if you are already within the monotheism Cairo district and it is not too hot, you'll be able to flip east onto Darb al-Ahmar Street from Bab Zuweila and walk to the lower park entrance.
Inside, the deposit holds a group of the singer's possessions, together with her fantastically jeweled stage costumes, and there is a stimulating black and white documentary on her life (with English subtitles).
Outside the palace, Roda Island's streets square measure fun to wander and still have some tumble-down mansion designs of the first twentieth century.
9- Ibn Tulun masjid
The second oldest masjid still standing in Cairo, Ibn Tulun masjid, was engineered between AD 876 and 879 and sculptural on the shrine in Mecca (Saudi Arabia).
At the time it had been engineered, it had been the most important masjid living.
The Main Court's colonnades have plentiful living fragments of convoluted frieze work on show and open onto a series of narrow-fronted halls.
The main prayer hall (on the southern facet of the court) still holds onto fragments of its older decoration of sculptured stucco and wood, and therefore the mihrab here has remnants of its original gold mosaic decoration.
On the mosque's northern facet is the 40-meter-high tower with a fine Moorish arch over the doorway and spiral steps whirling through the inside. it's sculptural on the minarets of the good masjid of Samarra on the river.
If you climb the 173 steps up to its higher platform their square measure very good views extending over the ocean of homes to the north, and to the Mokattam Hills within the east.
10- Museum of Islamic Art
Cairo's deposit of monotheism Art holds one amongst the foremost vital collections of Middle Eastern prowess within the world.
Ottoman tile work, Ayyubid ceramics, frescoes, finely chequered wood-inlay, coinage, sculptured marble tombstones, and jewel-toned carpets, among different things square measure all on show.
Definitely pay your time poring over the light Qurans and therefore the exhibits of richly ornamental ceramics, glassware, and metal-ware.
Then march on to admire the heavily ornate jewelry assortment and therefore the rooms dedicated to natural philosophy and different sciences, wherever you will find extremely elaborated astrolabes and different instrumentality.
The deposit sits on the sting of the monotheism Cairo district, thus it is a sensible place to either begin or finish a visit to the neighborhood. It's within straightforward walking distance (once you've got crossed a monstrously busy main road) to Bab Zuweila.
