Cairo: Histories of a CityFrom its earliest days as a royal settlement fronting the pyramids of Giza to its current manifestation as the largest metropolis in Africa, Cairo has forever captured the urban pulse of the Middle East. In Cairo: Histories of a City, Nezar AlSayyad narrates the many Cairos that have existed throughout time, offering a panoramic view of the cityÕs history unmatched in temporal and geographic scope, through an in-depth examination of its architecture and urban form. In twelve vignettes, accompanied by drawings, photographs, and maps, AlSayyad details the shifts in CairoÕs built environment through stories of important figures who marked the cityscape with their personal ambitions and their political ideologies. The city is visually reconstructed and brought to life not only as a physical fabric but also as a social and political orderÑa city built within, upon, and over, resulting in a present-day richly layered urban environment. Each chapter attempts to capture a defining moment in the life trajectory of a city loved for all of its evocations and contradictions. Throughout, AlSayyad illuminates not only the spaces that make up Cairo but also the figures that shaped them, including its chroniclers, from Herodotus to Mahfouz, who recorded the deeds of great and ordinary Cairenes alike. He pays particular attention to how the imperatives of Egypt's various rulers and regimesÑfrom the pharaohs to Sadat and beyondÑhave inscribed themselves in the city that residents navigate today. |
Contents
The First Cairo | 1 |
Chapter 2 From Ancient Egypt to the Coptic Enclave | 19 |
The City of Arab Islam | 39 |
A Fatimid Palatial Town | 55 |
From Salah alDin to the Pearl Tree | 77 |
The City of the Slave Sultans | 93 |
The Burji Mamluks | 117 |
Chapter 8 A Provincial Capital under Ottoman Rule | 149 |
The City of the Khedive | 199 |
Chapter 11 The Arab Republic and the City of Nasser | 229 |
Chapter 12 Escaping the Present Consuming the Past | 255 |
Notes on Transliteration and Dates | 281 |
Glossary | 283 |
Endnotes | 289 |
Figures and Credits | 313 |
317 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
According administration al-Qahira allowed ancient Arab Architecture army authority became began British brought building built Burji Mamluk Cairo caliph called canal capital central century Citadel city’s complex connected construction continued Coptic death designed district dome early East Egypt Egyptian Empire established European eventually existing Fatimid Figure forces fortress French Fustat gates Giza housing Ibid Ibn Tulun important included initially institutions Islamic Ismail known land later lived located madrasa major Mamluk Maqrizi medieval Middle military minarets monuments mosque Muhammad Napoleon Nasser Nile original Ottoman palace period political population position Press Pyramid quarters religious remained residents restoration rule ruler Salah al-Din served social spaces story streets structures Sultan thousand tion tomb took travelers University urban walls