Islamic Art and Architecture

Cairo is not a particularly attractive city with regard to architecture. We have visited many great cities – London, Paris, Mexico City – where immediately we have been struck by the grandeur and beauty of the buildings, parks, and monuments. Such attractiveness is generally not found in Cairo. Streets are dirty and in disrepair, most buildings are either massive,nondescript concrete blocks or, if there had been some architectural beauty, it has long faded, and parks are poorly kept and unattended. However, throughout the city hundreds of mosques and minarets can be seen dotting the skyline in nearly every neighborhood which is where the true beauty of Cairo is to be found. Some examples of Islamic art and architecture date back nearly one thousand years.

Bab Zawayla in the heart of Islamic Cairo

The medieval gate of Bab Zwalya was just one of 60 gates (although most did not survive until modern times) built around 1090 to defend the walled city of Cairo. It marks the entrance to what is today called Islamic Cairo. If you wind through some of the oldest streets of the city in this neighborhood, you end up at a cluster of mosques that are often considered the cities best examples of Islamic architecture: Mosque of Sultan Hassan, Rifai Mosque, and the Mosque of Ibn Tulun. Further up on a hilltop inside the Citadel is the Mohammed Ali  Mosque (no relation to the boxer).

Egyptian super-model posing in front of the Mosque of Mohammed Ali

One of the oldest mosques in the city is Sultan Hassan. It dates back to the 1300s and at the time was an unprecedented construction project. Splendid examples of Islamic art designs can be seen both inside and outside the mosque in nearly every nook and corner.

Inside the Mosque of Sultan Hassan

Unique to Egypt is the fact that non-Muslims can visit many if not most of the mosques except during prayers or generally on Fridays. The larger mosques do charge an admission fee or one is expected to tip the attendant who shows you around.  What one sees inside the mosque rivals many of the great cathedrals of Europe.

The interior of the Rifai Mosque

Muslims are called to prayer a number of times a day. Places of worship can be found not only in mosques, but in subway stations, on carpeted areas along the street, and even inside tourist attractions such as at the Temple of Luxor.

Men at prayer in Luxor

As with any house of worship, one is just asked to be respectful.

Mosque near Coptic (Christain)  neighborhood in Cairo

Inside the Mosque of al-Muayyad or the “Red Mosque” near Bab Zawayla

                                                             

We have now spent time most days admiring these fine examples of non-Western art and have been most pleased by the warmth of our welcome in each and every place of worship that we visited. Tipping or giving baksheesh is a way of life here that one just has to get used to, but more on that later.

The austere courtyard of Ibn Tulun

Tomorrow: More pyramids: Dashur & Saqqara