Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
Construction
Construction of Cairo Citadel
medieval Islamic-era fortification in Cairo, Egypt
- 1176
- North Africa
Construction
medieval Islamic-era fortification in Cairo, Egypt
Fetching the article from Wikipedia…
The Citadel of Cairo or Citadel of Saladin (Arabic: قلعة صلاح الدين, romanized: Qalaʿat Salāḥ ad-Dīn) is a medieval Islamic-era fortification in Cairo, Egypt. Its construction was begun by Salah ad-Din al-Ayubi (Saladin) in 1176 and continued by subsequent Egyptian rulers. It was the seat of government in Egypt and the residence of its rulers for nearly 700 years from the 13th century until the construction of Abdeen Palace in the 19th century. Its location on a promontory of the Mokattam hills near the center of Cairo commands a strategic position overlooking the city and dominating its skyline. When it was constructed it was among the most impressive and ambitious military fortification projects of its time. It is now a preserved historic site, including mosques and museums.
In addition to the initial Ayyubid-era construction begun by Saladin, the Citadel underwent major development during the Mamluk Sultanate that followed, culminating with the construction projects of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad in the 14th century. In the first half of the 19th century Mohammed Ali Pasha demolished many of the older buildings and built new palaces and monuments all across the site, giving it much of its present form. In the 20th century it was used as a military garrison by the British occupation and then by the Egyptian Army until being opened to the public in 1983. In 1979, it was proclaimed by UNESCO as a part of the World Heritage Site Historic Cairo (Islamic Cairo) which was "the new centre of the Islamic world, reaching its golden age in the 14th century."
The Citadel was built on a promontory beneath the Muqattam Hills, a setting that made it difficult to attack. The efficacy of the Citadel's location is further demonstrated by the fact that it remained the heart of Egyptian government until the 19th century. During this long period, the layout and structure of the Citadel was repeatedly altered and adapted to suit the designs of new rulers and new regimes, which makes it difficult to reconstitute its original plan or even its plan in subsequent periods. There have been three major construction periods leading to the Citadel's current form: 12th-century Ayyubid (starting with Saladin), 14th-century Mamluk (under al-Nasir Muhammad), and in the 19th century under Muhammad Ali. The Citadel stopped being the seat of government when Egypt's ruler, Khedive Ismail, moved to his newly built Abdeen Palace in the new downtown Cairo in 1874. Despite its elaborate defenses, the Citadel never ended up being subjected to a true siege, though it was involved on various occasions in the political conflicts within Cairo or Egypt.
In general, the fortress complex is divided into two parts: the Northern Enclosure (where the National Military Museum is located today), and the Southern Enclosure (where the Mosque of Muhammad Ali is located today). The Northern Enclosure was historically reserved for military garrisons, while the Southern Enclosure was developed as the residence of the sultan. There is also a lower, western enclosure which was historically the site of the royal stables of the Mamluks. However, these functional distinctions were largely erased in the 19th century under Muhammad Ali Pasha, who overhauled the entire site and constructed buildings of various functions throughout the Citadel.
To the west and southwest of the Citadel was a long open field frequently referred to as the "hippodrome" by historians or as the Maydan ("plaza" or "square"). For centuries this was maintained as a training ground (especially for horsemanship) and as a military parade ground. Its outline is still visible in the layout of the roads (mainly Salah ad-Din Street) on this side of the Citadel.
At the northern end of this hippodrome was another square or plaza known as Rumayla Square (Maydan/Midan Rumayla), today known as Salah al-Din Square (Midan Salah ad-Din) or Citadel Square (Midan al-Qal'a). This was used as a horse market (due to its adjacency to the royal stables), but also as an official square for royal and religious ceremonies. It is occupied today by a large roundabout next to which are the massive mosques of Sultan Hassan and al-Rifa'i.
The Citadel was begun by the Kurdish Ayyubid ruler Salah al-Din (Saladin) between 1176 and 1183 CE in order to protect Cairo from potential Crusader attacks and to provide a secure center of government for his new regime (only a few years after he had dismantled the Fatimid Caliphate). This also emulated a feature of many Syrian cities, such as Damascus and Aleppo, which had walled citadels that acted as the seat of power and which Saladin was familiar with. Saladin also set out to build a wall, around 20 kilometres long, that would surround both Cairo and Fustat (the nearby former capital), and is recorded as saying: "With a wall I will make the two [cities of Cairo and Fustat] into a unique whole, so that one army may defend them both; and I believe it is good to encircle them with a single wall from the bank of the Nile to the bank of the Nile." The Citadel would be the centerpiece of the wall. While the Citadel was initially completed in 1183–1184, the wall Saladin had envisioned was still under construction in 1238, long after his death. It does not appear to have ever been fully completed after this, though long segments were built.
Saladin charged his chief eunuch and close confidant, Baha al-Din Qaraqush, with overseeing the construction of the new fortifications. Most of the structure was built with limestone quarried from the surrounding Muqattam Hills; however, Qaraqush also quarried a number of minor pyramids at Giza and even as far away as Abusir in order to obtain further materials. He also made use of labour provided by Christian prisoners of war captured in Saladin's victories against the Crusaders. The initial fortress built in Saladin's time consisted essentially of what is today's Northern Enclosure, although not all elements of the Northern Enclosure's current walls are original. The southeast and northeast sections of these walls are likely the closest to their original forms. Also from Saladin's time is the so-called Yusuf's Well, a deep well accessed through a spiral staircase which provided water for the fortress. The original southwestern section of Saladin's enclosure has disappeared but is likely to have extended around this well and around the current site of al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque (making the original enclosure slightly bigger than the existing Northern Enclosure today). The carved image of a double-headed eagle, found near the top of one of the towers of the western walls (near the Police Museum), is a curious feature which is popularly attributed to Salah ad-Din's reign. It was probably located elsewhere originally and then moved here at some point when the walls were rebuilt in Muhammad Ali's time. The eagle's heads are missing today, but their original appearance was noted by chroniclers.
Only one original gate, Bab al-Mudarraj, has survived to the present day. It is located along the walls of the Northern Enclosure, nowadays between the Harem Palace (National Military Museum) and the newer Bab al-Jadid gate. It was originally the main gate of the Citadel, but today it is obscured by later constructions from Muhammad Ali's time, including the Bab al-Jadid ("New Gate"). Its name was derived from the carved stone steps (darraj) which led up to it from the path that connected the Citadel to the city below. Like other gateways in Ayyubid military architecture, it had a bent entrance. Today, the inside of the gate's dome-vault is covered in plaster with painted inscriptions belonging to Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad and dated to 1310. It was also on this gate that a foundation inscription was discovered which dates the completion of the Citadel to 1183–1184. Nonetheless, construction of one kind or another almost certainly continued under Saladin's Ayyubid successors.
Construction of the Ayyubid Citadel appears to have continued under Sultan al-'Adil (r. 1200–1218), Saladin's brother and later successor, and was probably finished under the reign of al-Kamil (1218–1238). Al-'Adil had already supervised some of the construction under Saladin, while al-Kamil in turn probably worked on the Citadel during al-'Adil's reign when the latter gave him the viceroyship of Egypt in 1200 (a prelude to becoming sultan later). The rounded towers in the outer walls of the Northern Enclosure date from Saladin's initial construction while the large rectangular towers date to al-Adil's reign. The two large round towers in the far northeastern corner of the enclosure, known as Burj al-Ramla ("Tower of Sand") and Burj al-Hadid ("Tower of Iron") are towers from Saladin's time which al-Kamil subsequently reinforced in 1207.
More significantly, al-Kamil built or completed the palaces in the southern section of the Citadel, and became the first ruler to actually move there in 1206. In addition to the palaces, a number of other structures were built, including a mosque, a royal library, and a "hall of justice". In 1213 al-Kamil also established a horse market on what became Rumayla Square (the square between the Citadel and Sultan Hasan's mosque today), as well as a maydan, a long open square or "hippodrome", to the west and south of the Citadel which was used for equestrian training and military parades. This was on the same site that Ahmad ibn Tulun established a similar hippodrome in the 9th century. This work established the overall plan of the Citadel area for centuries to come: the northern part of the citadel was devoted to military functions, the southern part to the sultan's private residence and the state administration, and outside, at the southwestern foot of the Citadel, was the parade ground which remained for centuries. Al-Kamil was likely also responsible for building or completing the first water aqueduct which ran along the top of Saladin's city walls to the southwest and brought water from the Nile to the Citadel.
Sultan al-Salih Ayyub (r. 1240–1249) subsequently moved away from the Citadel again and built himself a new fortified enclosure on Roda Island (which also became the barracks of the Bahri Mamluks who took power after him). Only under the Mamluks, who ruled from 1250 to 1517, did the Citadel finally become the permanent residence of the sultans.
Under the early Bahri Mamluks, the Citadel was continuously developed and the Southern Enclosure in particular was expanded and became the site of important monumental structures. al-Zahir Baybars, al-Mansur Qalawun, al-Ashraf Khalil and al-Nasir Muhammad each built or rebuilt the audience hall (throne hall), the main mosque, the palaces, or other structures. Unlike the earlier Ayyubid buildings, the Mamluk buildings were increasingly designed to be visible from afar and to dominate the city's skyline. Many of these structures have not survived, with few exceptions.
Baybars (r. 1260–1277) was the first one to split the Citadel into two areas by building the Bab al-Qulla, the gate and wall which today separates the Southern and Northern Enclosures of the Citadel. It was named after a keep tower which he built nearby and which was later torn down by Qalawun. The gate itself was rebuilt again by al-Nasir Muhammad in 1320. The gate was intended to control access to the newly delimited Southern Enclosure which Baybars then developed into a more elaborate and more exclusive royal complex. A part of the Southern Enclosure became reserved for the harem, the private and domestic area of the sultan and his family, while another part became the site of more monumental structures whose functions were more public, ceremonial, or administrative. Among the structures he built here was one called the Dar al-Dhahab ("the Hall of Gold"), which he seems to have used as his private reception hall and which may have been located in the area of the present Police Museum. Another important structure he built in the area is referred to as the Qubba al-Zahiriyya ("the Dome of al-Zahir"), a monumental and richly decorated hall with a central dome which acted as an audience hall or throne hall. It may have been a new structure or an addition to an existing Ayyubid structure, and it was probably the predecessor of al-Nasir Muhammad's "Great Iwan". Baybars also built the Tower of the Lions (Burj al Siba'), a round tower which featured a stone-carved frieze of lions (Baybars' emblem) along its upper parts. The tower was obscured by later construction but its remains, including the lion carvings, were rediscovered in the late 20th century and are now visible on the northwestern side of the Police Museum.
Sultan al-Mansur Qalawun (r. 1279–1290) either built or significantly renovated a structure known as the Dar al-Niyaba which served as the palace of the sultan's vice-regent. He also demolished Baybars' Qubba al-Zahiriyya and replaced it with his own domed structure, the Qubba al-Mansuriyya. More significantly in the long run, Qalawun was the first to create elite regiments of mamluks (soldiers of slave origin) who resided in the various towers of the Citadel, which earned them the name "Burji" Mamluks (Mamluks of the Tower). It was these cohorts of mamluks who would eventually dominate the sultanate during the Burji Mamluk period.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Cairo Citadel”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.