City of the Dead (Cairo)

As a " city of the dead " are referred to two broad inhabited by about 300,000 people cemetery districts on the eastern edge of Cairo. The as locals simply al - Qarafa (Arabic القرافة ), ie " the graveyard ," said territory at the foot of Muqattam Mountains extends for several kilometers both north (northern necropolis ) and south (southern necropolis ) of the Citadel and became an informal settlement ( slum ), as in the 20th century more and more people ( looking for work) flocked to the Egyptian capital and partly also inhabited the historic cemetery grounds because of the acute lack of space, which is still outside Cairo in the Middle Ages was the desert.

Today crisscrossed by a dense network of roads and road Qarafa involves both simple grave sites and houses a variety of very important historical buildings from almost all periods of Islamic history of Egypt. The most important of these remarkable monuments are given in the following lists.

Northern Necropolis

The so-called northern necropolis in which there are the mausoleums of the same five sultans lies northeast of the citadel between the Salah Salim Street ( شارع صلاح سالم ) and the An- Nasr Street ( طريق النصر ).

Dome of the Sultan Mosque grave Qaitbays

Grave Sultan Qansuhs I.

Grave complex of the Emir Qurqumas

Grave Mosque Sultan Qaitbays on a painting by David Roberts

The mausoleums of the Emir Qurqumas (left), the Sultan Inal (center) and the Sultan Qansuh I ( right) on a painting by David Roberts

Southern city of the dead

The so-called southern necropolis, which is still larger than the northern one, located in the south of the citadel, east of the Ibn Tulun mosque. It extends to the district of Maadi and can be divided into the area between the Saliba Street ( شارع الصليبة ) and the Saiyida - Nafisa Square ( ميدان السيدة نفيسة ), a Central District ( just south of the citadel) and the so called. Qarafa small (still located further south ) divide.

Hosch al - Basha ( from the outside)

Hosch al - Basha (from the inside )

Saiyida - Ruqaiya Mausoleum (bubble)

Saiyida - Ruqaiya mausoleum ( shrine inside )

Saiyida - Ruqaiya Mausoleum ( mihrab )