Egypt Travel Part I: Salah el Din Citadel, Muhammad Ali Mosque, Tahrir Square and Egyptian Museum

April 1, 2018 by admin
Filed under: Egypt

Egypt Travel Part I: Salah el Din Citadel, Muhammad Ali Mosque, Tahrir Square and Egyptian Museum

Egypt

Egypt is the second country after South Africa in the continent of Africa that I visited on 13 Dec 2017. It is a country that has an interesting history dating back over 4000 years ago and it was recorded in hieroglyphic writing on tombs and walls of ruined temples.

Long Air Flight in distance and time

Day 1 Wednesday 13 Dec 2017

Flying to Cairo from Singapore via Dubai

On 13 Dec 2017, my wife, brother, sister-in-law and I joined a group of 30 Singaporeans and flew on an Emirates airplane from Changi International Airport, Singapore, to Dubai and then another Emirates plane from Dubai to Cairo. The total distance was 9263 km and the flight-time taken was about 11 hours.

Writer and family joining the Egypt tour

Egypt Tour Group of Singaporeans and Malaysians

Arrival at Cairo International Airport, Egypt

On arrival at Cairo Airport, the tour group led by a tour manager, Yong Zheng, from Chan Brothers Travel Agency(Singapore) was welcomed by a young handsome Egyptian tour-guide, Khaled. We all boarded a coach and went straight to a famous fortress on a hill overlooking the City of Cairo. It is known as Salah el Din Citadel.

Tour Manager, Yong Zheng, and Tour Guide, Khaled

Emirates Boeing 777-300ER Airplane

Salah el Din Citadel

Located on a low Mokattam Hill, Salah el Din Citadel was built in the period between 1176 and 1183 by Salah el Din to prevent the European crusade armies invading Cairo.

Salah el Din Citadel on Mokattam Hill in Cairo

Watch-Tower of Salah el Din Citadel

Pathway to the Fortress

To go to the fortress on the Mokattam Hill, we walked up a pathway. On the hill there are two large old mosques within the fortress, namely Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque and Muhammad Ali Mosque or Alabaster Mosque.

A pathway outside Salah el Din Citadel to Muhammad Ali Mosque

A pathway outside Salah el Din Citadel to Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque and Muhammad Ali Mosque

Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque

Sultan Al-Nasir, a Mamluk sultan, built a royal mosque within the fortress in 1318 and it was named after him. The sultans of Cairo performed their Friday prayers at the mosque.

Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque in Salah el Din Citadel, Cairo

Muhammad Ali Mosque or Alabaster Mosque

Within the fortress there is a larger mosque known as Muhammad Ali Mosque or Alabaster Mosque. It was built in Ottoman architectural style between 1830 and 1848 by Muhammad Ali when he came to power. He built it in memory of his deceased son.

Muhammad Ali Mosque. a large mosque

Domes

The mosque looks impressive as it has two tall minarets, a dome in the centre surrounded by four semi-circular ones and four smaller ones in the corners. Colourful motifs can be seen in the interior of these domes.

Interior Domes of Muhammad Ali Mosque

10 000 Worshippers

Besides, the interior of the mosque is beautifully and richly decorated. Its walls and pillars are covered with alabaster, hence it is also known as Alabaster Mosque.

The mosque can accommodate about 10 000 worshippers. It has become an attraction for visitors and school-children too.

Muhammad Ali Mosque can accommodate 10 000 worshippers.

Tour guide, Khaled, talking about Muhammad Ali Mosque

Muhammad Ali Mosque attracting schoolchildren

Panoramic View of Cairo City

At the back of this mosque, a visitor can see a panoramic view of the city of Cairo. On the day of our visit, we saw the city shrouded in haze due to air-pollution caused by vehicles, open-air burning and fine particles blown from Sahara Desert in the west.

Cairo City shrouded in haze

Soiree Restaurant

Soon we left the fortress and went to a restaurant, Soiree, in the city for a buffet lunch. Inside the restaurant two pieces of colourful mosaic art on a wall attracted my attention. One showed a few Egyptian merchants in their traditional costumes talking among themselves and another a milkman.

Tour team having lunch at Soiree Restaurant

A colouful mosaic art of Egyptian merchants

Another colourful mosaic art of a milkman

Tahrir Square

After lunch we went to the Egyptian Museum. On the way we saw a public square known as Tahrir Square and was told by Khaled, the local tour-guide, that it was very important to the Egyptian people as it was a place where political demonstrations were often held.

2011 Egypt Revolution

During the 2011 Egypt Revolution, over 200 000 protesters demonstrated in Tahrir Square for 18 days resulting in the resignation of the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarack. Mubarack who was the 4th. President of Egypt(1981-2011) was alleged to have abused his power and committed corruption. He was arrested and put on trail a few times but he was acquitted in March 2017.

Tahrir Square, a famous place for political demonstrations

Egyptian Museum

Finally, we arrived at the Egyptian Museum which was heavily guarded by soldiers. We had to go through strict security check before entering the museum. Inside the building we learned about the ancient Egyptian history dating back over 4000 years ago.

About 120 000 Exhibits

Egyptian Museum has a large collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities. About 120 000 of them are displayed on the ground floor and first floor.

The largest museum in Cairo that has about 120 000 ancient antiquities

Ground Floor

The ground floor has exhibits from the Archaic Period(3000 B.C.- 2700 B.C.) until the Roman and Byzantine Period(32 B.C. – 640 A.D.). The exhibits include coins, jewellery, statues, tables and coffins for mummies(scorphaguses).

First Floor

Displayed on the first floor are the artifacts from the last two dynasties of Egypt, such as those from some tombs of pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings. There are two rooms that have a few mummies of kings and other royal family members of the New Kingdom(1550 B.C. – 1077 B.C.).

Below are photos showing some of the ancient Egyptian exhibits in the museum:

Statuette of King Khufu, the builder of the largest pyramid at Giza

Statue of King Khafra, the builder of the second pyramid at Giza

Statue of King Khafre, the builder of the second largest pyramid at Giza

Statuette of the Royal Acquaintance, father and son

Statues of King Khufu’s brother and wife

Statue of Sphinx, a mythical creature with a human head and a lion body

Statue of Ancient Egyptian King/ Pharaoh Ramesses II

Ancient Egyptian scorphagus for a mummified dead body

A mummy with a mask and wrapped in linen bandages

Anubis, a god associated with mummification and afterlife in ancient Egyptian religion

Figures with crosses and handles are a symbol of life in ancient Egyptian religion

Figures with crosses and handles known as Ankhs are a symbol of life and good health in ancient Egyptian religion

King Tutankhamun

King or Pharoah Tutankhamu is the best known ancient Egyptian king in the world. It is because when his tomb was discovered in 1922 in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, it was still intact and most of his items, over 5000 of them, were still in the tomb.

Special Room for King Tutankhamun’s Possessions

Some of the king’s objects are exhibited in a special room in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Unfortunately, taking photographs of his items in the room is not allowed.

A special room for displaying King Tutankhamun;s possessions in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Replica of Tutankhamun’s golden mask in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo

A replica of King Tutankhamun’s golden mask in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo

King Tutankhamun was born in 1341 B.C., became king at 9 years old in 1332, married his half-sister at 11 and passed away at 18 in 1323 B.C.. He ruled Egypt for about 10 years from 1332 B.C. until 1323 B.C..

Statue of King Tutankhamun(1341 B.C. – 1323 B.C.)

Picture showing King Tutankhamun’s tomb with his possessions in the Valley of Kings, Luxor

King Tutankhamun’s chariot in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Egyptian Deities

Ancient Egyptians worshipped many deities, as many as 114. Some of them are shown in the two pictures below.

Human and semihuman forms of some of the chief Egyptian deities

They stopped worshipping them when Christianity and Islam spread to their homeland.

Ancient Egyptian Writing

The ancient Egyptians had a writing system that uses pictographic characters known as hieroglyphs. There are over 700 characters in the system. Some of them are shown in the picture below.

Hieroglyphs were used in ancient Egyptian writing.

Jean Francois Champollion(1790 – 1832)

For many years no one knew how to read the hieroglyphic writing until 1822 when a Frenchman, Jean Francois Champollion(1790 – 1832 A.D.), was able to decipher it.

Francois Champollion, the first person to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphic writing in 1822

Rosetta Stone

There was a stone that was found near Rosetta Village(Rashid) by a French soldier in 1799. Known as Rosetta Stone, it has three kinds of writings , namely hieroglyphic at its top, demotic in the middle and Greek at the bottom. As Champollion knew the last two he deciphered the hieroglyphic writing in 1822, successfully. He found out that the hieroglyphs were phonetic representing the speech sound.

The Rosetta Stone was found in Egypt Delta in 1799 and Champollion was able to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing in 1822 inscribed on it.

Le Meridien Pyramids Hotel, Cairo

After a long day of visiting two important places in Cairo, viz. Salah el Din Citadel and Egyptian Museum, we checked in at a hotel, Le Meridien Pyramids Hotel, in the city and stayed for a night. We would be flying to Luxor for more visits on the following morning.