Cairo's Citadel and the Mohammed Ali Mosque

The Citadel
see all photos »

One of Cairo's most popular tourist attractions is the Citadel which houses a number of museums, ancient mosques and other sites.  The Citadel is one of the world's greatest monuments to medieval warfare, as well as a highly visible landmark on Cairo's eastern skyline.

We arrived at the Citadel for a short (read quick) tour which also included a tour of Mohammed Ali's Mosque which is also known as the alabaster mosque as most of its construction is from the alabaster stone.

The Citadel is one of the world's greatest monuments to medieval warfare, as well as a highly visible landmark on Cairo's eastern skyline.

The Citadel
see all photos »

The Ottoman Muhammad Ali Pasha, one of the great builders of Modern Egypt, came to power in 1805, and was responsible for considerable alteration and building within the Citadel. He rebuilt much of the outer walls and replaced many of the decaying interior buildings. He also reversed the roles of the Northern and Southern Enclosures, making the Northern Enclosure his private domain, while the Southern Enclosure was opened to the public. His Mohammed Ali Mosque, built in the style called Ottoman Baroque that imitates the great religious mosques of Istanbul, today dominates the Southern Enclosure

Mohammed Ali's Mosque
see all photos »

In the mosque's courtyard is a large clock which was a gift to Saladin (as he was known to the western world) from Napoleon in exchange for the obelisk which currently stands at the Place de la Concorde in Paris.  Our tour guide was quick to point out that this was a really bad deal as the clock to this date has not worked once!

We cooled off in the mosque's inner sanctum and then took off to visit the Khan el Khalili market for some serious shopping ;)