After the building of Al-Qahira, the “City Victorious”, by the military commander Gawhar Al-Siqili in 969 CE at the order of the Fatimid Caliph Al-Muizz li-Din Allah as Egypt’s new capital, its walls enclosed opulent palaces and the prestigious 1,000-year-old mosque-university of Al-Azhar.

Throughout the ages, this city, now known as Historic Cairo, maintained its position and encouraged subsequent generations of Ayoubids, Mamelukes, Circassians, and Ottomans to enhance its character by building splendid mosques with soaring minarets, a vast citadel, decorated sabils (water fountains), kuttabs (Quranic schools), hammams (bathhouses), opulent private houses, and domed wekalas (trade complexes).

Historic Cairo is one of the oldest surviving mediaeval cities in the world, and since 1979 it has figured on UN cultural agency UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Time, however, has taken a heavy toll on some of the historic edifices in the district. Misuse by the inhabitants has caused various harms, environmental pollution has undermined foundations, and the 1992 earthquake threatened the historic zone.

An ambitious Historic Cairo Restoration Programme was launched to rescue the city’s splendour, and several edifices were restored to their original allure. Another project aiming to restore and rehabilitate 100 monuments was also launched, as well as conservation projects in collaboration between the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and several companies and NGOs in the field.

To encourage local and international tourism in Historic Cairo and visitors to spend more time admiring the splendour of its magnificent monuments, a new tourist trail connecting 12 monuments from different Islamic periods has now been established to connect this wealth of historic buildings and ancient handicraft markets together.

The increase in tourism brought by the trail is expected to impact thousands of families and artisans in the area.

The trail was built in collaboration with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), which has helped in the restoration and conservation of several Islamic monuments, and with funds from the European Union.

“The trail provides access to and preserves the Islamic cultural heritage in Cairo by strengthening the role of tourism as a major catalyst for local social and economic development,” said Mustafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

He said that it enables visitors to explore some dozen buildings located over its two-km length, with tickets costing LE20 for Egyptian visitors, LE10 for Egyptian students, LE120 for foreign visitors, and LE60 for foreign students.

Visitors start their journey at Al-Azhar Park, where a visitor centre welcomes them and introduces the trail and its monuments through a short film about each and the conservation work being done. Information about each monument is provided.

Electric cars then take visitors through the eastern Ayoubid walls around Al-Azhar Park and to the dome of the Emir Tarabay Al-Sharifi, the architectural complex of the Emir Khair Bek, the Blue Mosque, the Um Al-Sultan Shaaban School, the Qasabet Radwan, the Al-Razzaz House, the Qijmas Al-Ishaqi Mosque, the Al-Saleh Talaa Mosque, and the Ibn Barqouq Zawya (a small mosque).

Services along the trail have been developed including benches and sunshades as well as signage displaying information about each monument. QR codes are provided to enable visitors to know more about the history of every monument on the trail.

Sherif Erian, CEO at the Aga Khan Trust for Culture Egypt, explains that with further EU funding, the tourist route project is currently undertaking training and capacity-building of local businesses in tourism management, the promotion of small businesses, and pollution reduction in the Al-Darb Al-Ahmar area.

It is training SCA employees on digital documentation and in the English language to enable better communication with tourists about heritage crafts in the area, and it is upgrading craft shops along the route to encourage shopping. It is also engaging in the final phase of the restoration of the Al-Maridani Mosque.

Erian said that over the past two decades as part of a broader urban-regeneration project spurred by the creation of the Al-Azhar Park, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture has restored several historic monuments in this dynamic but fragile quarter. It has also helped local people to build better futures through education and health initiatives, as well as vocational training and job creation related to the restoration efforts.

The tourist trail of Al-Darb Al-Ahmar will take visitors on a trip through history, allowing them to admire some of the most mesmerising monuments of Islamic Egypt from the Fatimid, Ayoubid, and Mameluke eras. The monuments include mosques, schools, complexes, palaces, and 700-year-old handicraft markets whose workers are as talented and skilled as ever.

Among the monuments are the following:

THE EASTERN AYOUBID WALLS

These were built in three different periods.

 In the first period, the walls used mud bricks and were designed by founder Gawhar Al-Siqili. They have now been demolished, and the only remains are now in the Archeological Triangle area and at Bab Al-Tawfik.

The second building campaign of the walls was carried out by Badreddin Al-Gamali, a minister of the Fatimid Caliph Al-Mostansir Bi-Allah. The remains of these walls can be seen in Bab Al-Tawfik.

In the third period, the walls were expanded during the reign of the Ayoubid Sultan Salaheddin Al-Ayoubi (Saladin), who extended them from the Citadel to Al-Fustat to surround the whole capital between 1171 and 1193 CE. Major parts still exist in the area of the Borg Al-Zafar Tower extending from Gawhar al-Qaed Street to Bab Al-Wazir between Al-Azhar Park and Al-Darb Al-Ahmar.

BAB AL-BARQIYA

This is a major gate in Cairo’s Ayoubid Walls constructed between 1171 and 1176 CE. It was covered in debris before its restoration and features a unique bent entrance design.

BORG AL-MAHROUQ TOWER

This is considered to be one of the most significant towers in the Ayoubid Walls.

It is a circular tower located at the meeting point of the northern wall with the eastern wall and consists of three floors. The ground level is an octagonal hall covered by a dome of the height of the floor of the tower supported by eight curved corner niches and side rooms, which are equipped with arrow slits.

A staircase leads to the first floor, consisting of a circular passage going around the dome of the ground floor. Opening out from the outer side of the passage are six small chambers with arrow slits. Another staircase leads up to uppermost floor of the Tower that consists of an octagonal middle open hall from which open five shooting rooms. Before its restoration, the tower was completely covered with rubbish.

THE ASLAM GATE

Also known as the “Burned Gate”, this is the third in importance of the gates of the eastern Ayoubid Walls.

It used to lead to a sheep market and was known as the Bab Al-Qarateen until the time of the Emir Al-Muizz Aybak, when a feud between him and the Amir Aqtay Al-Jamader led to the latter being killed and his Mameluke servants evacuated to Syria. They left their houses at night heading to the Bab Al-Qarateen, which they found closed, so they burnt it down and exited through it. Since then, it has been called the Bab Al-Mahrouq (Burned Gate).

The gate consists of two semi-circular towers, with shooting rooms in each. The towers once enclosed a passage with a bent entrance that was later completely demolished due to the modern constructions built above it. These were removed during the recent restoration and whatever remains from the original constructions has been revealed.

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL TRIANGLE

Located on the eastern side of Al-Azhar Park, this was so named in 2000 due its shape and the presence of many monuments within it. The most significant are the rear facade of the eastern Walls of Salaheddin and the mudbrick remains of the earlier Walls of Gawhar Al-Siqili. There are also the remains of buildings of the Fatimid and Mameluke eras.

THE TARABAY AL-SHARIFI COMPLEX

Founded by the Emir Tarabay Al-Sharifi, one of the princes of the Sultan Al-Ashraf Abu Nasr Qaitbay, the complex consists of a sabil and a dome with several rows of stalactites. In the middle of the southwest side is the main entrance of the dome, which is preceded by a double staircase. The sabil consists of a rectangular chamber with a room dedicated to keeping tools and for the storage of water.

THE EMIR ALIN AQ PALACE

This was built by the Amir Alin Aq Al-Hossami in 1293 CE and is one of the few Mameluke private residences still conserved in Cairo. The palace’s architectural style belongs to the same typology as the Emir Bashtak and Menjik Al-Youssefi Palaces in the same area, but is larger in terms of buildings. It consists of two floors: the ground floor has a vaulted entrance leading to a courtyard, while the second floor consists of a large open-air area.

THE KHAIR BEK COMPLEX

This was built by the Emir Khair Bek in 1502 CE, one of the princes of the Sultan Al-Ghuri. He played a major role in the political changes in Egypt and Syria at the time, particularity when he cooperated with the Ottomans against his master the Sultan in the battle of Marj Dabek close to Aleppo.

For this reason, people called him Khair Bek (the traitor). When the Ottomans conquered Egypt, they appointed him an important official for five years until his death in 1521 CE. The Khair Bek Complex consists of three main components: a madrassa, a mausoleum, and a sabil and its associated buildings.

AQ SUNQUR MOSQUE (BLUE MOSQUE)

This was constructed in 1347 CE by the Emir Shamseddin Aq Sunqur, a Mameluke of the Sultan Al-Nasir Mohamed Ibn Qalawun. It is located at an equal distance between the Bab Zuwayla and the citadel and was refurbished by the Ottoman prince Ibrahim Agha Al-Mustahfizan.

The mosque is also a funerary complex containing the mausoleums of its founder, his sons, a number of children of the Bahri Mameluke sultan Al-Nasser Mohamed, and that of its principal restorer, Ibrahim Agha Al-Mustahfizan. It was named the Blue Mosque because of the blue glazed ceramic tiles covering its walls.

The 1654 restoration project included restoring its roof and arcades and adding columns to support the mosque’s southern prayer hall. The building was decorated with blue tiles and used as a congregational mosque.

THE UM AL-SULTAN SHAABAN MOSQUE AND MADRASSA 

This is the only royal construction in Al-Darb Al-Ahmar.

Sultan Al-Ashraf Shaaban Ibn Hussein Ibn Al-Nasser Mohamed Ibn Al-Mansour Qalawun commissioned the construction of this madrassa for his mother Khwand Baraka Khatoun Bent Abdallah and the wife of the Emir Al-Amgad Hussein Ibn Al-Nasser Mohamed Ibn Qalawun, who was the father of her son Al-Ashraf Shaaban.

Khwand Baraka made many religious donations, especially during her pilgrimage year of 1368 CE. She played a major role in the political life of the time and in consolidating her son’s rule.

THE BEIT AL-RAZZAZ

This is one of the most beautiful Mameluke and Ottoman houses in Al-Darb Al-Ahmar and dates back to Sultan Qaitbay’s rule.

During the Ottoman era, it was the residence of Ahmed Katkhoda Al-Razzaz, a wealthy rice merchant after whom the house was named. The house is a single residence made of two single houses. The first property was built in 1480 by Sultan Qaitbay and has highly decorative windows on the second floor. Its structure mainly consists of stone, brick, and carved wooden windows, while its interior walls and ceilings are made of painted wood panels. The second floor was used as the women’s quarters, while the men occupied the downstairs area.

The second house was built by Al-Razzaz in the 18th century, probably to accommodate a growing family and an increasing network of relationships. It is said that the mansion was used by the same family for centuries. The building was abandoned in the 1960s and became the property of the Ministry of Antiquities from the late 1970s.  

THE AL-TANBUGHA AL-MARIDANI MOSQUE

This was built by Alaaeddin Altunbugha ibn Abdallah Al-Maridani, who began his career as a khassaki (imperial guard) and cup-bearer of the Mameluke Sultan Al-Nasser Mohamed ibn Qalawun. He started the construction in 1338-9 and finished it in 1340 CE.

The mosque has survived almost 700 years, and its plans resemble those of the Mosque of Al-Nasser in the Citadel. It contains a large number of high-quality ornaments, such as a beautifully carved wooden screen separating the qibla riwaq (prayer hall) from the rest of the mosque, Monumental granite columns and capitals reused from the Roman period, a mihrab of coloured marble with bands of thin tracery inlaid with mother of pearl of the finest craftsmanship, and ceilings painted and gilded with geometrical designs complete the decoration.

THE AHMED AL-MIHMENDAR MOSQUE

This was built by the Emir Shehabeddin Ahmed Al-Mihmandar, who was the commander of the Egyptian army in the third period of the Sultan Al-Nasser Mohamed Ibn Qalawun’s rule. The building was initially organised as a school and as a khanqa (Sufi residence), but later the Amir Soliman al-Qazadoghli decided to build a minaret and a minbar and convert it into a mosque in 1722 CE.

THE MOSQUE OF QIJMAS AL-ISHAQI OR THE ABU HARIBA MOSQUE

This was built by Emir Qijmas Al-Ishaqi, one of the Mamelukes of the Sultan Qaitbay. Its alternative name, Abu Hariba, is inspired by Sheikh Abu Heriba, a local governor who was buried under the dome of the mosque in 1852. This mosque is distinguishable from other mosques in Al-Darb Al-Ahmar because of the large number of shops in the basement to fund the maintenance costs of the building. The mosque is featured on LE50 banknotes.

THE AL-SALEH TALAA MOSQUE

This was built by the Armenian Saleh Talaea Ibn Ruzik, who was a minister under the rule of the Fatimid Caliph Al-Faaez Bi-Allah. The building is located outside the gates of Fatimid Cairo and is considered the last mosque to be built in the Fatimid era. It is also the second Fatimid mosque to be built outside the walls of Cairo after the mosque built by the Caliph Al-Hakeem.

THE QASABAT RADWAN BEK (AL-KHAYIAMIA)

One of the main commercial places of the Ottoman era, it was established by the Amir Radwan Bek Al-Faqqari, one of the most important officials of the 17th century Ottoman period. Some of its shops are still in business.

THE ZAWYAT AND SABIL OF FARAJ IBN BARQOUQ

This is a small Sufi establishment that is noteworthy primarily for the lovely panels of inlaid polychrome stone on the exterior. It is likely there was originally a kuttab as well, but nothing of it survives.

The zawiya, or small mosque, which was restored by the Comité de conservation des monuments de l’Art arabe in 1923, was moved from its original location directly fronting the Bab Zuwayla to accommodate the widening of Al-Darb Al-Ahmar. The portal was also added at this time. The painted and gilded wooden ceiling of the sabil is a masterpiece of muqarnas decoration.