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Old Cairo (, Egyptian pronunciation: Maṣr El-ʾAdīma) is a historic area in
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
, Egypt, which includes the site of a Roman-era fortress, the Christian settlement of
Coptic Cairo Coptic Cairo (Arabic: القاهرة القبطية, romanized: ''al-Qāhira al-Qibṭiyya'', lit. Coptic Cairo) is a part of Old Cairo which encompasses the Babylon Fortress, the Coptic Museum, the Hanging Church, the Greek Church of St. ...
, and the Muslim-era settlement of Fustat that pre-dates the founding of Cairo proper in 969 AD. It is part of what is referred to as Historic Cairo, a
UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
. ''Miṣr al-Qadīma'' is also a modern administrative district in the Southern Area of Cairo, encompassing the area from the Cairo Aqueduct to the north, to the
Ring Road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...
in the south, and from the Khalifa cemetery to the east, to the Nile Corniche in the west, as well as Roda Island, or Manial al-Roda. It had 250,313 residents according to the 2017 census.


History


Roman fort and Coptic Cairo

The area around present-day Cairo had long been a focal point of
Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
due to its strategic location at the junction of the
Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...
Valley and the
Nile Delta The Nile Delta (, or simply , ) is the River delta, delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's larger deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the eas ...
regions, which also placed it at the crossing of major routes between
North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
and the
Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...
. Memphis, the capital of Egypt during the
Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning –2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth Dynast ...
and a major city up until the Ptolemaic period, was located a short distance south west of present-day Cairo. Around the turn of the 4th century, as Memphis was declining in importance, the Romans established a large fortress along the east bank of the Nile. The fortress, called
Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...
, was built by the Roman emperor
Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...
(r. 285–305) at the entrance of a canal connecting the Nile to the
Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...
that was created earlier by emperor
Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...
(r. 98–115). While no structures older than the 7th century have been preserved in the area aside from the Roman fortifications, historical evidence suggests that a sizeable city existed. The city was important enough that its
bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
, Cyrus, participated in the Second Council of Ephesus in 449. The Byzantine-Sassanian War between 602 and 628 caused great hardship and likely caused much of the urban population to leave for the countryside, leaving the settlement partly deserted. The site nonetheless remained at the heart of the
Coptic Orthodox The Coptic Orthodox Church (), also known as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, is an Oriental Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Christian church based in Egypt. The head of the church and the Apostolic see, See of Alexandria i ...
community, composed of Egyptian Christians who separated from the Roman and Byzantine churches in the late 4th century.


Fustat in the early Muslim period

After the
Muslim conquest The Muslim conquests, Muslim invasions, Islamic conquests, including Arab conquests, Arab Islamic conquests, also Iranian Muslim conquests, Turkic Muslim conquests etc. *Early Muslim conquests **Ridda Wars **Muslim conquest of Persia ***Muslim conq ...
of
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
in 641 during the period of the
Rashidun Caliphate The Rashidun Caliphate () is a title given for the reigns of first caliphs (lit. "successors") — Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali collectively — believed to Political aspects of Islam, represent the perfect Islam and governance who led the ...
, the Arab commander
Amr ibn al-As Amr ibn al-As ibn Wa'il al-Sahmi (664) was an Arab commander and companion of Muhammad who led the Muslim conquest of Egypt and served as its governor in 640–646 and 658–664. The son of a wealthy Qurayshite, Amr embraced Islam in and was ...
established Fustat () just north of the Roman fortress, on the eastern side of the Nile. At
Caliph A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
Umar Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Mu ...
's request, the Egyptian capital was moved from
Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
to this new city.


Foundation of Al-Askar (Abbasid period)

The reach of the subsequent Umayyads Caliphs was extensive, stretching from modern-day
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
all the way to western
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
. However, they were overthrown by the Abbasids, who moved the capital of the Islamic empire to
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
. In Egypt, this shift in power involved moving control from the city of Fustat slightly north to a new Abbasid city called al-'Askar (). Intended primarily as a city large enough to house an army, it was laid out in a grid pattern that could be easily subdivided into separate sections for various groups, such as merchants and officers.


Foundation of Al-Qata'i (Tulunid period)

Local Egyptian governors gained increasing autonomy, and in 870, governor
Ahmad ibn Tulun Ahmad ibn Tulun (; c. 20 September 835 – 10 May 884) was the founder of the Tulunid dynasty that ruled Egypt in the Middle Ages, Egypt and Bilad al-Sham, Syria between 868 and 905. Originally a Turkic peoples, Turkic slave-soldier, in 868 Ibn ...
made Egypt into a ''de facto'' independent state, though still nominally under the rule of the Abbasid Caliph. As a symbol of this independence, in 868 ibn Tulun founded yet another capital, al-Qata'i, slightly further north of al-'Askar. The capital remained there until 905, when the city was destroyed.


Later history of Fustat

After the destruction of al-Qatta'i, the administrative capital of Egypt returned to Fustat. In the 10th century, under the
Fatimids The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...
, the capital moved to nearby ''al-Qāhirah'' (
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
), founded in 969. Cairo's boundaries grew to eventually encompass the three earlier capitals of al-Fusṭāṭ, al-Qatta'i and al-‘Askar. Fustat itself was then partly destroyed by a vizier-ordered fire that burned from 1168 to 1169, as a defensive measure against the attacking Crusader
Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Crusader Kingdom, was one of the Crusader states established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1 ...
. By the end of the 15th century, the newer port of
Bulaq Boulaq ( from "guard, customs post"), is a district of Cairo, in Egypt. It neighbours Downtown Cairo, Azbakeya, and the River Nile. History The westward shift of the Nile, especially between 1050 and 1350, made land available on its eastern si ...
was able to take over the role as the major commercial port from Old Cairo.


Modern district and population

''Masr al-Qadima'' (Old Cairo) is a Cairo district in the Southern Area made up of one ''qism'' (police ward). The district had 250,313 residents in 2017 spread over 12 ''shiakha''s as follows:


Historical sites and attractions


Coptic Cairo and the Babylon Fortress

The area includes
Coptic Cairo Coptic Cairo (Arabic: القاهرة القبطية, romanized: ''al-Qāhira al-Qibṭiyya'', lit. Coptic Cairo) is a part of Old Cairo which encompasses the Babylon Fortress, the Coptic Museum, the Hanging Church, the Greek Church of St. ...
, a walled enclave on the site of the partly-preserved Babylon Fortress. Parts of the ancient fortress's walls, towers, and its gate are still visible. The enclave holds a high concentration of historic Christian churches such as the Hanging Church, the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George, the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, the Church of Santa Barbara, and other Christian buildings. From the 11th century to the 13th century, the Hanging Church (also known as the Church of the Virgin) and the Church of Saint Mercurius (located a short distance north of the enclave), served as the seats of the Coptic Patriarchate and the residences of the Coptic Pope. The Church of Saint Barbara and the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus are also notable for being among Cairo's oldest preserved churches, dating from the late 7th or early 8th century. The area also contains the Coptic Museum, which showcases the history of
Coptic art Coptic art is the Christianity, Christian art of the Byzantine empire, Byzantine-Roman Egypt, Greco-Roman Egypt and of Coptic Orthodox Church, Coptic Christian Churches. Coptic art is best known for its wall-paintings, textiles, illuminated ma ...
from Greco-Roman to Islamic times, and the Ben Ezra Synagogue, the oldest and best-known
synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
in Cairo, where the important collection of historic documents known as the
Cairo Geniza The Cairo Geniza, alternatively spelled the Cairo Genizah, is a collection of some 400,000 Judaism, Jewish manuscript fragments and Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid administrative documents that were kept in the ''genizah'' or storeroom of the Ben Ezra ...
were discovered in the 19th century. Count Gabriel Habib Sakakini Pasha (1841–1923), who had become a household name in his time, established the Roman Catholic Cemetery in Old Cairo.


Historical sites near the fortress

To the north of the Babylon Fortress is the Amr ibn al-'As Mosque, the first mosque in Egypt and the most important religious centre of what was formerly Fustat, but rebuilt many times since. A part of the former city of Fustat has also been excavated to the east of the mosque and of the Coptic enclave. Nearby and to the northwest of Babylon Fortress and the mosque is the Monastery of Saint Mercurius (or ''Dayr Abu Sayfayn''), an important and historic Coptic religious complex consisting of the Church of Saint Mercurius (mentioned above), the Church of Saint Shenute, and the Church of the Virgin (also known as ''al-Damshiriya''). Several other historic churches are also situated to the south of Babylon Fortress.


Other nearby attractions

Further north is the Cairo Citadel Aqueduct, built during the Ayyubid and
Mamluk Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-so ...
periods (from the 12th to 16th centuries) to supply water to the Cairo Citadel to the east. Long sections of the elevated aqueduct, as well as its intake tower near the river, are still standing today. Located on the Nile River close to Coptic Cairo is Roda Island, which is connected by a nearby footbridge. Several historic monuments are located in the island, including the Nilometer, built in 861 on the orders of the Abbasid caliph
al-Mutawakkil Ja'far ibn al-Mu'tasim, Muḥammad ibn Harun al-Rashid, Hārūn al-Mutawakkil ʿalā Allāh (); March 82211 December 861, commonly known by his laqab, regnal name al-Mutawwakil ala Allah (), was the tenth Abbasid Caliphate, Abbasid caliph, rul ...
. Although it was repaired and given a new roof in later centuries, its basic structure is still preserved, making it the oldest preserved Islamic-era structure in Cairo today. In 2021, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization was opened to visitors in a new building in Old Cairo, near ancient Fustat. The museum provides an overview of Egyptian history with artefacts drawn from the existing collections of other museums around the country. The 22 ancient royal mummies formerly housed in the
Egyptian Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum (, Egyptian Arabic: ) (also called the Cairo Museum), located in Cairo, Egypt, houses the largest collection of Ancient Egypt, Egyptian antiquities in the world. It hou ...
at Tahrir Square were moved here in 2021.


Conservation and restoration

The effort to conserve Egypt's monuments has existed since the 19th century. In 1881, Khedive Tawfiq founded the ''
Comité de Conservation des Monuments de l'Art Arabe The was an organization established in December 1881 by Tewfik Pasha, Khedive Tawfiq which was responsible for the preservation of Islamic architecture, Islamic and Coptic architecture, Coptic monuments in Egypt. It was an Egyptian institution, ...
.'' In 1979,
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
designated Old Cairo, as part of wider Historic Cairo, as a
World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
, calling it "one of the world's oldest Islamic cities, with its famous
mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...
s,
madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...
s, hammams and fountains" and "the new centre of the Islamic world, reaching its golden age in the 14th century." The archeological site of Fustat, which include excavations to the east of the main historical enclave, has been threatened by encroaching construction and modern development.


References


Notes


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * * {{coord, 30, 01, N, 31, 14, E, display=title, region:EG_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki World Heritage Sites in Egypt History of Cairo Districts of Cairo Historic districts Districts of Greater Cairo