1-888-834-1448. Ancient Egypt was a multicultural society that received immigrants from different parts of the ancient world, including Greeks, Libyans, and Phoenicians among others. They extend to the north and to the south of the Cairo Citadel, below the Mokattam Hills and outside the historic city walls, covering an area roughly 4 miles long. A number of other historical mosques and monuments are in the area, including the Mausoleum and Zawiya of Shaykh Zayn al-Din Yusuf (dating from 1298-1299), on al-Qadiriya street, whose presence was probably an early catalyst for settlement in that area. Ananke edizioni 2008, Mike Davis: Planet der Slums, Assoziation A, Berlin, 2007, p. 32, Mosque and mausoleum complex of Sultan Qaitbay, Khanqah-mausoleum of Sultan Farag ibn Barquq, "Egypt denies destroying ancient Islamic cemeteries to build bridge", "Meet The Egyptian Families Who Live Among The Tombs In Cairo's Massive Cemetery", "Al-Qāhirah (Governorate, Egypt) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map and Location", "Living with the Dead: Contested Spaces and the Right to Cairo's Inner City Cemeteries", "Welcome To 'The City Of The Dead,' The Giant Egyptian Neighborhood Built Into A Graveyard", Bing Maps - aerial view - City of the Dead and environs, Living with the Past in the City of the Dead-The qarafa al-sharqiya, Madrasa-Mausoleum of as-Salih Najm ad-Din Ayyub, Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay, Mosque-Sabil of Sulayman Agha al-Silahdar, Wikala and Sabil-Kuttab of Sultan Qaytbay, Qasaba of Radwan Bey (Tentmakers' Street), Madrasa of Amir Sunqur Sa'di (Mausoleum of Hasan Sadaqa), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=City_of_the_Dead_(Cairo)&oldid=992654047, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Tomb and Khanqah of Khawand Tughay (or of Umm Anuk), This page was last edited on 6 December 2020, at 12:04. The following is a list of notable historic monuments and religious sites in the cemeteries. This desert area located between the Citadel, the city walls, and the Moqattam hills was crossed by the important pilgrimage road which led to Mecca. [1] Nonetheless, a number of famous historical figures are believed to be buried here, including the Fatimid vizier Badr al-Gamali, the scholar and traveler Ibn Khaldun, and probably the historian al-Maqrizi; though unfortunately the locations of their tombs are now unknown. [1] As elsewhere in the city, their monuments were typically a combination of mausoleum, mosque, madrassa, khanqah and other functions. [1] This population grew and shrank according to circumstances in different eras. They were found underground in a zone now dubbed the 'City of the Dead' by some. [1] This period marked the height of Cairo's wealth and power, and in turn probably marked the high point of the Qarafa in terms of prestige and splendor. [7], The Bab al-Wazir Cemetery, just north of the Citadel walls and south of the main Northern Cemetery, also dates from the Mamluk period. [15][1] In 2020, concerns were raised about the government's plan to build a bridge through the Northern Cemetery, which has resulted in some early 20th-century mausoleums being demolished, with little consultation from locals.[12]. Some people resorted to squatting within the mausoleums and tomb enclosures and turning them into improvised housing; however, these "tomb-dwellers" remained a small fraction of the overall population in the area. They include the Mausoleum and Khanqah of Amir Qawsun (founded in 1335) and the so-called "Sultaniyya" mausoleum (believed to be dedicated to Sultan Hassan's mother, in the mid-14th century).[1][7]. [1][7], The Southern Cemetery (also known as the "Greater Qarafa", "Qarafat al-Kubra", or simply "the Qarafa"[1][7]) is the largest and oldest necropolis. [7], Today, the area east of Imam al-Shafi'i's mausoleum is a densely populated neighborhood named after him, the eastern part of which is also known as al-Tunsi. [1][21] This may be exaggerated to some extent, as there is no clear evidence that poverty or crime are greater problems overall here than in other working-class districts of Cairo – although drug-trafficking was indeed documented at one point. [1] Modernization efforts led to the demolition of many old buildings in the historic districts of the city, displacing much of the poor and working class towards the outskirts of the city. The Saqqara Pyramids in the City of the Dead are the burial grounds of Memphis, Egypt’s ancient capital. On Saturday, a team of archaeologists unveiled an unprecedented finding from an ancient city of the dead in Saqqara, Egypt. At its center, the area around the mosque of Qaitbay and north of it is an urbanized neighborhood with multistory apartment blocs. At some distance to the South of Sekhemkhet's unfinished complex, three kings built their pyramids. The cemeteries are registered as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Historic Cairo and contain numerous historic mausoleums and religious sites from a wide range of periods. [3] Moreover, the cemeteries were already filled with structures built to house family tombs - some of them quite sumptuous - which were well-suited to provide improvised housing for the homeless and displaced. [1] The tomb enclosures, typically walled structures built to house the tombs of one extended family (also known as a hawsh), are nonetheless considered better, in some respects, than poor-quality housing elsewhere in the city. [1] A number of other Fatimid-era mausoleums survive today in the area between the Mosques of Ibn Tulun and of Sayyida Nafisa, such as the Mausoleum of Sayyida Ruqayya. These included the workers whose professions were tied to the cemeteries (e.g. 86 & 91. [1] The Southern Cemetery is located within the "al-Khalifa" district and most of the Northern Cemetery (except the Bab al-Wazir Cemetery) is in the "Manshiyat Naser" district, but both of those administrative districts cover denser urban areas outside the necropolis zone.[16]. She has also written and illustrated children's books including The Prince who knew his Fate, The Ancient Egyptian Activity Book and The Lion and the Mouse . [1][7] Most of the region, however, turned into an extension of Cairo's necropolis, and is now densely filled with tombs. The spooky never-before-seen video shows a sprawling 'city of the dead' beneath the sands of Saqqara, 20 miles south of Cairo. It does not correspond to one administrative district (qism) in the Egyptian census but stretches across several, with some cemeteries blending into the main urban fabric of Cairo without presenting a clear border between city and necropolis. [1] Because of their short terms and other challenges in governing, the pashas were financially and politically weakened. [1] In modern times, the City of the Dead has been surrounded by the urban fabric of greater Cairo, which has long since outgrown its historic core. [1] Some historians believe that the necropolis zone was divided into two cemeteries: the Qarafat al-Sughra, or "Smaller Qarafa", located further north, and the Qarafat al-Kubra, or "Greater Qarafa", spreading over a large area further south. Its tombs were built between and on top of the tombs of, The area south of the causeway was developed mainly from the late. Tombs from the same family are often grouped together and enclosed in a walled structure or courtyard known as a hawsh or hosh (Arabic: حوش; which also has a generic architectural meaning). [1]:123 The land became abandoned and disused following a famine in the 11th century and was probably then used as a burial ground, which led to the name Qarafa being used to denote Cairo's urban cemeteries in general. Saqqara is located near the entrance of the Nile Delta, at the point where the river starts dividing into several arms, on the west bank of the Nile. Dr Manniche is a well-known Danish Egyptologist and author of several books includingEgyptian Art (in Danish) and Erotic Life in Ancient Egypt. The focus of development, however, shifted from the old Qarafa, which was by then fully saturated, to new areas of development north of the Citadel, which later became what is now known as the Northern Cemetery. Al-Shafi'i was an extremely important Islamic scholar who founded the Shafi'i madhhab (a school of Islamic jurisprudence) which is predominant in many parts of the Muslim world. [1][8] Durzan also built a large mosque, possibly comparable in size and layout to the Mosque of Al-Azhar, described by contemporary chroniclers and known simply as the Qarafa Mosque. Her mausoleum was accompanied by a khanqah for Sufis, which became a recurring architectural format for future funerary complexes. [1], The Fatimid Caliphs themselves and their family members were buried in their own mausoleum (called Turbat az-Za'faran)[1][7] on the site of what is now Khan al-Khalili, inside the city and adjacent to the Fatimid Great Palaces. [1] Among other measures, the Aqueduct of Ibn Tulun, built to provide water to al-Qata'i and passing through this area, was repaired. Slaves were made to do the hardest work when in the city, digging graves, wherein t… It lies in the middle of a mountain valley which stretches over 17 kilometers (10. At some distance to the South of Sekhemkhet's unfinished complex, three kings built their pyramids. The Northern Cemetery (also called the Eastern Cemetery, or Qarafat ash-sharq in Arabic, because it was east of the city walls) is relatively younger than the main Qarafa to the south and dates back to the Mamluk period. It is also known as the Mamluk Desert Cemetery (Arabic: صحراء المماليك, Saharet Al Mamalik, "Desert of the Mamluks"). [3][1] In fact, the majority of the residents live in regular urban housing and neighborhoods which, through various historical circumstances, developed inside the cemetery zones. The UNESCO World Heritage Site entry for Historic Cairo refers to this area as the "Qaytbay Necropolis", given the fame of Qaytbay's mausoleum. [21][1], Regardless of their actual living conditions in the cemetery zones, the residents do live in a socially and politically precarious position. was applied to the nearby city of Memphis by later generations. This 9 square kilometers area is usually divided into two parts: Saqqara-North and Saqqara-South, which, in turn, can be divided into smaller necropoleis. Archaeological research in and around this pyramid, conducted by the French in the 1980âs and 1990's has revealed several smaller pyramids that were used for the burial of Pepi I's many queens. It contains the tomb of 'Aisha, the daughter of Ja'far al-Sadiq, the sixth Shi'i Imam and a descendant of Muhammad. Archaeologists Unearth More Than 800 Tombs At Ancient Egyptian City Of The Dead. RARE footage of an Ancient Egyptian 'funeral home' has been released by National Geographic. The first was Djedkare of the 5th Dynasty, whose attention may have been drawn by the high plateau that dominates this part of the area. [1], Estimating the population of the "City of the Dead" is problematic due to difficulties in defining it precisely. [5] Only a small number of them left any monument attesting to their time in Egypt, and only six such monuments were in the Qarafa. The name is a toponym derived from the Banu Qarafa ibn Ghusn ibn Wali clan, a Yemeni clan descended from the Banu Ma'afir tribe, which once had a plot of land in the city of Fustat (the predecessor of Cairo). The Mosque has been embellished and rebuilt by many patrons over the centuries, and is still popular today. She died in 762 CE in Egypt. [1][3] Official attitudes have varied from modest measures to improve living conditions to bold proposals to forcibly move the inhabitants, but no overarching plan has been put into effect so far. [1], Despite this, the necropolises received renewed attention in the 19th century and onward. 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