City of the Dead in Cairo. Cairo - the city of the dead This is also interesting

In Egypt, under Mount Mukattam, north of the Citadel, is the Cairo necropolis - the City of the Dead. Cairo is the capital of the state, consisting of many districts, one of which is this long cemetery. The age of the burial ground exceeds two millennia, and the territory is constantly increasing. Now its length is more than 6 kilometers.

City of the Dead (Cairo)

Egypt is considered a Muslim country, only 15% of the inhabitants profess Christianity, so the City of the Dead is an Islamic necropolis. Hearing this name, many people think that we are talking about the Great Pyramids located in Giza, near Cairo. But in fact, this is the name of the largest cemetery located in the capital of Egypt. By the way, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But, despite this status, the necropolis is not popular among tourists and local residents.

The city of the dead (Cairo), whose name is al Qarafa, translated from Arabic means "cemetery". It consists of five main cemeteries - North, South, Bab el-Nasr, Bab el-Wazir and Great.

In memory of the departed

In the northern part of al-Karafa, the mausoleums and mosques of the sultans Inal and Kaitbey, Faraj Barkuk, and the Barsbey complex rise. Mameluk mazars and ancient buildings from the time of the Fatimids were built in the southern part.

Some of the tombs are already crumbling, while others stand intact as they are built of marble. As in life, they are buried in large tombs, and ordinary mortals have modest tombstones.

The city of the dead (Cairo) by its age belongs to the oldest mass graves. On its territory, people from different walks of life found peace - both ordinary citizens and representatives of blue bloods. Many tourists are impressed by the majestic tombs of the rulers of the world who lived several centuries ago, as well as how their relatives honored the memory of their departed family members.

Initially, this cemetery was erected as a burial place for the Arab conquerors of Egypt, the Abbasids, Fatimids, Mamluks, Ottomans, and now it has become one of the slums of Cairo, where the living and the dead coexist in the neighborhood.

Living and dead

Today, this unusual metropolitan area is not only the last refuge for those who have gone to another world, but also the place of residence of tens of thousands of the poorest Cairo who have no other roof over their heads. The reason for this was the Egyptian crisis, the lack of affordable housing for a rapidly growing population. Therefore, many poor Egyptians chose the city of the dead as their home.

Some of them, in agreement with the relatives of the deceased, live directly in the crypts. As a rule, in return, they undertake to look after the graves and restore order in the surrounding area. Thanks to this arrangement, the City of the Dead (Cairo) is much cleaner than some of the main streets of the capital.

Here you can often see boys playing football and women hanging clothes between tombstones. For many of them, the City of the Dead has become a real home for a long time. Life here is different from that which boils in other areas of Cairo. The streets here are quiet, narrow, not paved. It seems that behind the high walls with decorative gates there is a completely different world: all around there are solid domes, minarets and no politics.

al Qarafa: kings and the poor

“I have lived here for 80 years, and my family has lived in this place for 350 years. King Farouk is buried next to my house, ”said a local resident of the City of the Dead in 2011. Despite such a strange neighborhood, he believed that "life with the dead is a good thing for an old man." Indeed, it is much more terrible to be near the living, from whom you do not know what to expect.

Nevertheless, starting from the 60s of the last century, a kind of infrastructure appeared here: shops were opened where you can buy food, clothes and souvenirs, even houses were built. Transport goes here, people work here.

No one can accurately answer the question of how many people live in this gloomy quarter among millions of graves. Today, the population of the "City of the Dead" area (Cairo) continues to grow due to the migration of villagers, natural disasters and a housing crisis. Presumably, we are talking about a half-million settlement.

City of the Dead (Cairo): reviews of tourists

Tourists who visit the City of the Dead are usually discouraged. For many of them, it is strange to see a city with houses where the mummified bodies of relatives of the homeowners are kept. According to them, this spectacle is not for the faint of heart. Despite the fact that people with low income live here, it is difficult for most tourists to understand how it is possible to stay in a house with a tomb in another room in order to save on expenses.

Others, on the contrary, consider walking through the City of the Dead very exciting. It is unusual for them that living people are constantly among the tombs, and they gladly respond to the offer of local residents to enter their homes.

And yet he's beautiful

But not all guests of the capital pay attention to such moments. Many of them visit the City of the Dead (Cairo) in order to admire the most beautiful tombs of Arab rulers, for example, the mausoleum of Muhammad Ali. The beautiful creations of the masters of the past, who created majestic structures by hand, do not leave indifferent true connoisseurs of architecture.

For some, this unusual place has remained in memory as a cemetery stretched for 4 miles, on the territory of which the poorest residents of Cairo live. They do not recommend visiting the labyrinth of tombs, houses and the famous necropolis, as it is easy to get lost without a guide and you can become a victim of robbers and other criminals.

However, when you come to rest in Egypt, visit the City of the Dead (Cairo), the photo of which does not give a complete picture of the true beauty of this area. Once on its streets, you will feel like a character from "A Thousand and One Nights".

It's not just the name of a cemetery. They really live here, among the crypts -

it happened, probably not from a good life

The cemetery is capital, vast, indeed the whole city.

Going to the Scavengers, from the City of the Dead, you will not pass.

We were not allowed into the territory, the escort only allowed us to slow down and look through the fence at the cemetery architecture.
They explained - so as not to disturb the peace of the inhabitants.
I wasn’t particularly eager, and my friends on the trip tried to get through, but it didn’t work.

Accompanying note -

All travelers are required to bring an escort "on board". In addition, that also the police car followed relentlessly.
We called "guides" in civilian clothes (with a short-barreled machine gun under the skirt) among ourselves "jackets" - the poor fellows steamed all day in a tight suit, dragging us through the pyramids, slums, sands and deserts, despite the fact that the Egyptian sun even in September still frying all over.
As for me, it’s calmer with an escort, although - don’t go there, you can’t go here, it was also a matter of coordinating every step with the authorities. What depressed our warm company a lot, I am ready for feats)
The guide - a local, a Cairo - for some reason began to assure that the security forces were not for protection, but to look after us so that they would not go where they should not. What is so forbidden there you can peep among the devastation, God knows. But one way or another, local beggars and other rogues kept aloof, the police are respected. In one of the hotels they decided to throw us - the jacket was destroyed, it is also more interesting for him to sleep in the room, and not to graze a restless group. They treated us normally, on occasion they suggested something, through a guide, they didn’t enter into conversations themselves, they didn’t command the “formation” =) By the way - unlike the people on the streets (also calmly friendly for the most part), the “jackets” knew that we are Israelis.

The place to live is unique, of course.

Passing pictures.

To the topic of the horrors of the quarter of garbage processors - this is already far beyond its aisles,
count city center, bridge over the nile

Under the bridge - a bus station with a street market -

Buses are crowded, minibuses are the capital, after all

From the desert, dust is constantly blown by the wind - that's why everything is withered. And the pieces of paper under your feet, apparently, do not soar anyone.

Buildings all around are not too different from the dwellings of the Zabbaleen -

Somewhere more neatly, somewhere completely fear-and-horror -

This, of course, can be found anywhere, if you set a goal, even in Tel Aviv, even in Rostov, even Europe is not all brand new,
but I didn’t rummage through the garbage dumps, I took pictures of everything along the route

The authorities are doing what they can, with the roads at least

The streets are not bad, the highway is more or less. The broken road came across only in the desert wilds, in the distant Sivs

Tuk-tuks based on scooters are a very common mode of transport.

Advertising has turned up - oil products from Libya are advertised. Egypt does not have its own. And there's not much to trade. Hence the gaps in the economy.
In Jordan, the same picture. Tourism is perhaps the only export item.
When provocative publishers compare - "here, de, how the Arabs live in the territories! But how the Israelis!" - they forget to compare with the rest of the Middle East,
Who is stopping them from cleaning the streets? If he does not interfere with anyone there, except for the passing European community.

Beauty center, not halam-balam

The house is not yet fully occupied, it begins to deteriorate along the way. The winds are strong...
And what I liked was niches for condos so that the facade would not be spoiled.

Skinny sheep or dogs? straight away and don't say

They can when they want

Egypt is heard even by those who have never been to this country in northern Africa. Its famous pyramids, Luxor, the Cairo tower and the temple complex on Philae Island are part of well-trodden tourist routes. But among the rich decoration of mosques, the historical heritage of museums and the beauty of natural oases, there are places where the living live among the graves. One of these places I discovered for myself for the first time iscity ​​of the dead in cairo.

It is extended in length 6 km and is, as it were, under the auspices mukattam mountains right at its foot. The city is divided by the Citadel into two parts - southern and northern. Each of them keeps its pearls of historical and cultural heritage. Locals habitually call this place "cemetery". This is not surprising, since, in fact, the city is a burial ground , which not so long ago stepped over 2000 year milestone . Numerous graves of ordinary people and rich tombs of sultans are located here, which are densely covered with centuries-old dust and desert sands.

Local Attractions

Path to the city of the dead somehow reminded me of the road to the kingdom of Hades. The group and I crossed the Nile River, a boat trip that is mesmerizing in itself. On the other side before us appeared majestic colossi of Memnon and statues of pharaoh Amenhotep III, carved out of stone. Just imagine - each of them weighs 700 tons! These figures are even more striking when you consider that the statues were transported by land, which means that their journey was very long.

But this is not all that opened my eyes after a long journey. The real gems of this place are Temple of Hatshepsut And Valley of the Kings , Where did the pharaohs of Egypt rest?. In total, the "cemetery" has about forty tombs. The tomb of the world-famous Tutankhamen is located here. The city became the eternal abode for Queen Nefertari. Her tomb is decorated with beautiful sculptures. Unfortunately, I never saw it, because it is closed to the public.

Almost never visited by tourists memorial temple of Ramses III . There is no ban for tourists, it's all about the inconvenient location of the attraction. But sophisticated travelers who are not afraid of difficulties will discover all the beauties that are hidden inside the temple. And these are murals and bas-reliefs that have survived to this day. I will definitely come here next time, but without a tour.

Walk in the northern part cities of the dead , replenished the collection of impressions with views Mosques of Faraj Barhuk And Khanaki Sultan Inal, temple complexes of Qaitbey And Barsbay . But I liked the buildings in the southern part of the necropolis more - they are of more ancient origin. Some of them were built during the Fatimid Caliphate.

Life in the graveyard

City of the Dead in Caironot one of the necropolises where life stopped millennia ago. Today, local slums are inhabited by people who are not bothered by "quiet" neighbors. Some have houses, while the homeless live in crypts with the permission of the relatives of the deceased. As payment, they clean and keep things in order.

In the middle of the day in the city of the dead we met merchants and barbers. There is a cafe here. In one of them, our group had lunch. We also visited the local market. Thankfully it was Friday. On other days the market is closed.

It was amazing to see buses and cars scurrying through the streets. In a word, everything indicated that life in the cemetery was going on as usual. Is that unlike other areas of Cairo in the city few children . It turned out that out of respect for the dead, relatives send them to other areas of the capital.

The number of the living in the city greatly exceeds the number of the dead. According to some estimates, the necropolis is inhabited by 300,000 people.

City `s history

The city of the dead in Cairo is magnificent an example of Islamic architecture and a monument from the time of the Mamluks (10th century AD). Here, squat graves coexist with imposing mausoleums. But the transformation into a Necropolis took place only in the 14th century. Before that, there was a royal hippodrome on the site of the "cemetery".

The tour guide also told us that the first settlements began to form in the city from the 60s of the 20th century. People settled right in dilapidated houses. These were settlers who had previously lived near the Suez Canal. The war between the Arabs and the Israelis was to blame. Refugees built shelters for themselves, next to which they buried their relatives and neighbors. Mortality was very high and the density of burials too. You can see it in old photographs.

How about now?

It was a revelation for me that many modern Egyptian families have a family crypt - so it has been since ancient times. The absence of such a crypt most often indicates financial problems, because not everyone can afford to pay for a place for it. Saves the situation Possibility to bury the dead relatives to great-grandparents. Only for this you need documentary evidence of kinship.

If there is no own crypt and relatives too, the deceased will be buried in a public crypt, which is taken care of by rich and wealthy families. They also do repairs that may be required from time to time. The tradition has spread not only among the Muslim part of the population, but also among the Copts - Egyptians who profess Christianity.

In our country, burials in crypts are not accepted by any of the religious layers. Traditional in Russia is the burial of the body to the earth. In Europe, traditions are similar to ours. Only the approach to the organization of burial sites differs. Some cemeteries look creepy, others resemble hanging gardens and invite tourists to admire (this is the right word here!) The creations of great sculptors. A kaleidoscope of such necropolises and tombs gathered in my head after traveling around Europe. First-hand impressions and photos - in the blog!

You should read:

One day, when I was relaxingly studying Google.Earth, lazily moving the mouse from Angola to the Cook Islands, and from Nakhodka to Madeira, I noticed something that I thought about for at least six months later. In Cairo, where he had repeatedly visited, and believed that he had visited everything that was possible, he now discovered a completely new object with the name Jaheen Alkhalawatee. And I got the idea to go there. The matter was aggravated by the fact that I could not find anything on the Internet about this place, resembling a hybrid of a palace and a mosque, and located on the slopes of Mukattam Mountain, in the eastern part of Cairo. Once in this city on December 17, 2009, I set out to find this temple of dreams -

And the task was not easy. Not a single living soul, from taxi drivers to the imams of a number of mosques, knew anything about the existence of such a place. We spent half a day driving around Cairo in a taxi, but we did not find anything. We climbed Mukattam and searched there, and were expelled by the soldiers guarding the air defense base on the top of the mountain, we infiltrated the city of the dead, but failure awaited us there too. It's time to despair, but it's not in my rules. The picture I saw on the Internet did not let me sleep peacefully, and on the last day of the trip, after seeing my fellow traveler to the airport (the girl left for Moscow), I set off to look for this very place with triple persistence. And now I decided to do it on foot, so as not to accidentally slip through it while moving by car. I was waiting for 20 (!) kilometers of the way through the whole of Cairo, but I was mentally prepared for this.

Experts will ask - why strain in search of this building, if it is clearly indicated on the map in the city of the dead in the southeastern part of Cairo? The answer is simple - the person who posted this photo put it at the wrong point. And when we got there for the first time by taxi, we were sadly convinced of this. The task was to walk long kilometers, winding through the southern and northern cities of the dead, in order to visually recognize what was captured in the photo.

After escorting my companion to the 356 airport bus, which leaves from a small stop behind the Cairo Museum for only 1 (one!) Pound, I went to the Maspero boat pier, opposite the Nile Hilton hotel. From there, every hour, river buses leave, following both up and down the Nile. More information about Cairo river trams on the TourEgypt website (eng). This is a wonderful walk if you have a couple of hours to spare. The walk costs only 2 pounds, and you ride along the river for about an hour, swimming under all the bridges, making a circle past the island of Jazira, where the tower of the Sofitel hotel is. Surprisingly, I did not meet a single tourist, but only Egyptian families relaxing on their day off. Unfortunately, tourists simply do not reach these cheap municipal river buses - they are simply torn apart by street hustlers (molesters), pulling in a felucca with a Nile cruise along the exact same route as the river tram, but at a price 30-50 times more expensive ie 50-100 pounds per person.

So, after riding the Nile, I landed on the west bank of the river, at Giza, opposite the zoo and Cairo University. Love this area, away from the crowds of central Cairo. The audience is completely different, no street pestering, cleaner and more pleasant. Walked around the campus of the university. Very, very interesting. Both the buildings themselves and the students leading a normal student life. I had a bite to eat in one of the local canteens for students, which is called remembered myself in their years. Funny!

After breakfast at the university, I went to the nearby zoo, but, being an animal lover, I could not stay there for a long time - the conditions for keeping unfortunate pets were too spartan. In addition, the zoo has been turned into a kind of amusement park and fast food. It seems that it’s not a zoo at all, but a kind of recreation park for lower-class workers, based on the amount of garbage lying around. Therefore, crossing the Nile towards the island of Roda, I went deep into the city -

Cairo - city of contrasts

Still, sometimes one is amazed at how close wealth and chic are to poverty and despair in the countries of Africa and the Middle East. It seems that you just crossed the bridge over the Nile, it's a 5-minute walk. But from decent Giza with its university campus, parks and civilized skyscrapers, you find yourself in an absolutely impoverished part of the city. The slums are so depressing that I did not take pictures of them, nor did I find color in the homeless pissing on the ancient aqueduct, or sheepskins dumped in the middle of the street, rotting in the hot sun. You know, there are such connoisseurs of naturalism who professionally and with a million photo effects photograph sketches from the life of a simple Cairo? I guess I'm a hypocrite, and I don't see charm in the workers who write en masse on ancient graves and monuments. As well as an absolutely naked legless beggar, tearing up abandoned skins with oozing blood - is also not positive, although the poor fellow is just cold at night. Meanwhile, you will observe such pictures following to the east along the ancient An-Nasr aqueduct, which stretches for several kilometers from the island of Roda almost to the Citadel.

Not without relief, having got out to the Cairo ring highway with 4 lanes in each direction, I tried to cross it - unsuccessfully. The flow of cars is so dense that it seems like suicide to cross to the opposite side. There were no footbridges or traffic lights either. Without exaggeration, it took about 30 minutes before I managed to cross the track, and then only because there was an accident, and all traffic got stuck in a dense traffic jam.

And here I am in the southern part of the city of the dead. A gloomy place, I must say, especially if you are alone and it starts to get dark. Feeling like you are in the computer game "Doom". Remember this one? When you rush through the tunnels, and various monsters jump out at you? I experienced the same thing in this gigantic cemetery. Not only do you not know where to go - there are monotonous crypts around you and you can’t see how and where to go further, but also a lot of stray dogs and beggars, pulling their hands towards you from another crypt. I understand that there is no mysticism in this, and we are talking about poor people, but still, when you are tense and definitely lost, everything is seen in a darker light.

For almost two hours I climbed among the graves and family crypts, and eventually got tired to such an extent that I stopped being afraid of anything. And a bunch of local gouging children, who decided to play stone throwing with a tourist and hit me in the leg, got their full. I not only turned out to be more accurate than them, but also went on the offensive, caught one of the fleeing and gave him a powerful kick in the ass, from which he flew forward with acceleration, as if he had been implanted with a turbine. The children ran away screaming, and no longer bothered. In general, Egypt became the third country where I had to fight a stone battle with local youth. The first episode was in Israel, in East Jerusalem. Then - in Morocco, in Ouarzazate, and now here in Cairo.

And now, oh miracles, I saw what the whole day was going to!

Then he went closer, hoping to get there in order to photograph the city of the dead from there -

Alas, I did not have time to go upstairs. It was getting dark, there was no time, and walking through the slums in the dark did not seem safe.

A little pleasant in the end

In order to expel the darkness and dust of ancient crypts from the soul, I went to the elegant Roxy district of Cairo, which is not far from the international airport. This is the richest of Cairo's neighborhoods, with lots of beautiful villas, beautiful colonial architecture, and a very nice unobtrusive aura that is sorely lacking in the city center. Meanwhile, it was very evening, and the camera began to miss the light, for which I will forgive you -

The secret is revealed!

The secret of this mysterious mosque is revealed, for which thanks to Misha (aka

City of the Dead or El-Arafa (in Arabic cemetery), as the Egyptians call this necropolis, is located in the southeast of Cairo. There are tombs and mausoleums on 6 square kilometers. The city of the dead is quite an interesting place, because people live and work in this cemetery.

The first burials in the Dead City were made during the Arab conquest of Egypt. And this, no less, 642 BC.

Period of the Arab conquest of Egypt

The Arab commander-in-chief Amr ibn al-As founded the first family cemetery here. His example was followed by other Arab commanders, and soon a real network of Arab cemeteries formed near the hill called Mokattam. Around this time, special tombs were created here, in which, for example, distant relatives of the Prophet Mohammed himself were buried. These tombs attracted the attention of numerous Muslim pilgrims who spread the news of the new cemetery throughout Egypt and far beyond.

During the Fatimid Caliphate, the development of the necropolis received a new round. The four largest cemeteries were combined into a single complex surrounded by a main wall.

Creation of the first mausoleums

Egypt XIV-XV centuries, Mamluk period. The country is divided into numerous small feuds, headed by the Mamluk sultans, who at all times were distinguished by bloodthirstiness and aggression. Feudal wars flare up one by one, taking both ordinary warriors and well-known military leaders to the grave. One of these kings was a certain Badr al-Gamali, whose mausoleum was built in El-Arafa first of all, around the 13th century.

Each of the other sultans also sought to leave a mark on the history and architecture of Cairo. This could be done in the form of a monument or a mausoleum. By the 15th century, such structures were built most of all. Naturally, the construction required both materials and a real army of workers who settled around in their own houses, but more often in hostels that the sultans erected at their own expense.

The tombs that formed the necropolis at the end of the 15th century received a new form: from squat buildings they turned into real works of monumental art, striking both in shape and height. The cemetery expanded, absorbing the areas where the workers lived. Local infrastructure was created, its own trade developed, and over the next five centuries, the necropolis created a special urban area around itself.

Of the most famous tombs of the Dead City, the following are worth mentioning:

• Tomb of El Hussein - the great-grandson of the Prophet Mohammed
• Zayida Zainab - patron saint of Cairo, sister of the martyr El Hussein
• Sheikh Ali, famous during his lifetime for miracles
• Al Salih Ayyib - last of the Ayyib dynasty of sultans
• Shagar Al Durr - widow of Al Salih Ayib, ruler of the early Mamluk era
• Patron Saints Nafisa, Rukkaya, Atika and Sukayna

City of the Dead: Our Time

In the 40s of the XX century, a large number of impoverished rural residents moved to the dead city, who began to settle in crypts and tombs in exchange for the improvement of the graves and care for them. This original business has survived to this day.

Currently, the City of the Dead is one of the attractions of Cairo. The number of people living in it - residents with extremely low incomes - already exceeds the number of burials.

Each of the approximately fifty mausoleums of the Dead City, taken separately, cannot boast of an attractive appearance. The reason for this is not so much the architectural style as their venerable age. Nevertheless, together they create a unique historical ensemble that attracts with its color and originality.

Since el-Arafa ceased to be a functioning cemetery several centuries ago, the people who inhabit it are mostly small artisans and merchants living below the poverty line. Only a few of them actually live on the graves of their ancestors. Most of the modern population of the Dead City moved here as a result of the massive development of the city center and the demolition of dilapidated housing in Cairo, which began in the 50s, during the presidency of Abdel Nassr. Also, many villagers moved here, who moved to Cairo in search of a better life.

In 1992, after the devastating Cairo earthquake, the City of the Dead was replenished with new residents. Its current population is approximately half a million inhabitants.

Although visiting el Arafah is not on the list of the most popular tourist destinations, this place is definitely worth a visit in order to feel the spirit and see the way of real Arab life. We recommend that you go on such a trip only in the company of a local companion or an experienced guide.