CAIRO CITADEL
Citadel divided into three distinct parts, housing Mohammed Ali's former palace and its Ottoman-style mosque.
Built by Saladin between 1176 and 1207, the function of this fortress was to resist the Crusaders and ensure the domination of his army over the districts of Foustat, Ibn Tulun and El-Qahira. The Mamelukes set up their quarters, a palace and a good number of usual buildings. They connected the Nile to the citadel by an aqueduct, most of which can still be seen today and which extends over 3.4 km. Muhammad Ali made it his residence and the seat of the state, and he also built a mosque inspired by the Ottoman style.
The citadel is traditionally divided into three distinct parts. There is no access to the lower part of the citadel, opened to the city by Bab-el-Azab, where Muhammad Ali had the main Mamluk leaders exterminated before taking control of the country. It is through the southern wall that one reaches the citadel, from the car park facing the Moqqatam. The southern wall houses the former palace of Mohammed Ali and his Ottoman-style mosque which dominates the city. From an architectural point of view, the Al-Nasir Mohammed ibn Qalaoun Mosque is a jewel that must be visited. One reaches the northern enclosure by Bab-el-Qullah built in the 16th century. Beyond it stood the garrison of the citadel. At the far end, the mosque of Suleiman Pasha still preserves a very beautiful apparatus of Iznik ceramics and a mausoleum still honoured. A small tour of the walls, not far away, gives an idea of the protection of the citadel which remained for Cairo, one of its major defensive elements.
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