City of the dead, Cairo: history and our days

In Egypt, under the mountain of Mokattam, to the North of the Citadel, Cairo is the necropolis-the City of the dead. Cairo — the capital of the state, consisting of many areas, one of which is it's longest cemetery. The age of the burial ground more than two millennia, and the area is constantly increasing. Now its length is more than 6 kilometers.

The city of the dead (Cairo)

Egypt is considered a Muslim country, only 15% of the population profess Christianity, therefore, the City of the dead – the Islamic necropolis. Hearing this name, many people think that we are talking about the Great Pyramids, located in Giza, near Cairo. But in fact the so-called largest cemetery, located in the capital of Egypt. By the way, it is a world heritage site by UNESCO. But despite this status, the necropolis is not popular among tourists and locals.

The city of the dead (Cairo), whose name al Qarafa, in Arabic language means “graveyard". 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-Qarafi towering mausoleums and mosques of sultans Inal and Qaitbey, service of barquq and Faraj, complex Barsbay. In the southern part built shrines to the Mamluks, and ancient buildings of the time of the Fatimids.

Some of the tombs are already destroyed and others are intact as built of marble. As in life, the noble people are buried in large tombs, and ordinary mortals of modest headstones.

The city of the dead (Cairo) on the age refers to the ancient mass burial site. On site found the rest of the people from different walks of life — as ordinary citizens, and representatives of the blue blood. Many tourists are impressed of the majestic tombs of the rulers of the world, who lived several centuries ago, and how their relatives honored the memory of their departed family members.

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

The Living and the dead

In our days, this unusual Metropolitan area is not only the final resting place for the departed to another world, but also the place of residence of tens of thousands of cairenes-the poorest who have no other shelter. The reason for this was the Egyptian crisis, the lack of affordable housing for the rapidly growing population. Therefore, many poor Egyptians have chosen the city of the dead as their home.

Some of them, by agreement with the relatives of the deceased residing directly in the crypts. Usually, in return, they undertake to look after the graves and to restore order in the surrounding area. Thanks to this agreement, the city of the dead (Cairo) is much cleaner than some of the main streets of the capital.

Here you can often find the boys playing soccer, and women hang linen between the tombstones. For many of them the city of the dead for a long time has become a real home. Life here is different from the one that the boils in other areas of Cairo. The streets here are quiet, narrow, not paved. It seems that behind high walls with a decorative gate is a completely different world: surrounded by nothing but the domes, minarets and no policy.

Al Qarafa: kings and poor

“I live here 80 years and my family has lived on this place for 350 years. King Farouk buried near my house», — said in 2011, a local resident of the city of the dead. Despite this strange neighborhood, he believed that ‘life to the dead — is a good thing for an old man”. Indeed, it is much worse to be around with the living, which will not know what to expect.

However, since the 60-ies of the last century, there appeared some semblance of infrastructure, opened a shop, where you can buy food, clothes and Souvenirs, even building a home. Here goes the transport, the people work here.

No One can accurately answer the question, how many people live in this dark quarter of millions of graves. Today, the population of the district is “city of the dead" (Cairo) continues to grow due to the migration of villagers to natural disasters and housing crisis. Presumably, we are talking about half a million settlement.

The city of the dead (Cairo): reviews

Tourists that visit the City of the dead, as a rule, are discouraged. For many of them strange to see a city with houses, which holds the mummified bodies of the relatives of the homeowners. According to them, this show is not for the faint of heart. Despite the fact that here people of low income, for most tourists it is difficult to understand how you can stay in the house with the tomb in the other room to save on expenses.

Others, on the contrary, I think a walk through the City of the dead is very exciting. For them unusual is the fact that real people are always among the tombs, and they are happy to respond to the offer of local residents go to their houses.

And yet it is beautiful

But not allguests of the city pay attention to these moments. Many of them visit the city of the dead (Cairo) in order to admire the beautiful tomb of the Arab rulers, for example, the mausoleum of Mohammed Ali. Beautiful creations by masters of the past, manually created magnificent buildings, do not leave indifferent true connoisseurs of architecture.

For some, this is an unusual place and remained in memory as stretched for 4 miles cemetery on the territory of which is inhabited by the poorest inhabitants of Cairo. They do not advise you to visit the maze 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, while on vacation in Egypt, visit the City of the dead (Cairo), a photo that does not fully reflect the true beauty of this area. Once on the streets, you will feel the character ‘Arabian nights".