Open Air Places in Cairo
You can live the historical events while the air touches your skin, feeling so refreshed, as you will feel that a breeze has come from history to welcome you in Cairo. Just walk through the most famous open-air places in Cairo, and leave the air to carry you to history.
Here we offer you the most famous three open-air places in Cairo.
Al-Muizz Li Din Allah Fatimid street- One of the most critical open-air places in Cairo, where you feel that you are in another era; how that?
Firstly, we welcome you to the largest open museum of Islamic antiquities in the world, which is Al-Muizz Al-Deen Allah Street, that still keeps the fully archaeological Islamic buildings so far, so you will feel that you live with Fatimid and walk through Egypt streets in a period dates back to 969 AD.
On the other hand, you can begin your most splendid tour from Azhar mosque; one of the best medieval architectural treasures in the Islamic world, in addition, you can go to Bab Zuweila, a medieval gate in Cairo, which is still standing in recent times and is considered one of the major landmarks of the city and then cross the road to Al Hussein Mosque, and finally reach to Al-Muizz Al-Deen Allah Street.
Surely, this tour will bring you back in time to another historical era; you will feel as if you have entered a time machine.Not to live in just the Fatimid era, but a set of successive eras since the establishment of Fatimid Cairo and through the Ayyubid, Mamluk and Circassian Mamluk eras, a period of the Middle Ages that extends from the tenth to the sixteenth century AD, then the Ottoman rule, which also left many architectural elements and ancient buildings.
Islamic Quarter
You will not close your eyes once seeing the huge remarkable collection of the most beautiful Islamic monuments in the world, numbering up to 29 monuments, where these monuments are unique in terms of beauty, accuracy, diversity, and magnitude of architecture and ornamentation and are distinguished not only by their majestic mosques but also include schools, cemeteries, bimarestans (hospitals), Sabil, writings, and open-air places in Cairo.
Masjid Al Hakim
By Hanytodros
That is how you will live minutes as you are in the middle ages in Egypt. These monuments are rich in spirituality and beauty that testify to the splendor of the Egyptian Muslim artist and architect.
Cairo Old Gates- one of the open-air places that will narrate to you a unique story about Cairo
Come back with the time to more than 1000 years and visit the Cairo old gates, where you live a historical story narrates about the dream of Jawahar Alsaqli, who came to lead the forces of the Caliph Al-Muizz Li Din Allah the Fatimid from Kairouan to enter Egypt.
“I dreamed of building a fortified stronghold that I called Cairo” … this was a logical response of Jawahar Alsaqli to the reasons that called for building the walls and gates of Cairo.
Cairo Gates
So, the first thing once arriving at Cairo that he began to build a mud-brick wall with eight gates, which are called Zuweila, Al-Faraj doors in the south, and Al-Fotouh, Al-Nasr doors in the north, and the Al-Qaratin Gate, which was later known as “Al-Mahrouq” Gate, and Al-Barqia in the east. , And the section Saada, then the Qantara door in the west.
He sought to repel the attacks of the Carmatians of Bahrain on Fustat, so he surrounded Cairo with this wall, and inside this wall, he placed his forces’ camps, the Caliph’s palace, and the mosque or “Al-Azhar,” to be specific to the rituals of the Fatimid Al-Obaidi school For fear of provoking the Egyptians if these rituals appeared in their mosque.
Also, a deep trench was dug on the northern side, to prevent the Qarmatian army from storming, and the waters were flowing to it from the Bay of the Commander of the Faithful, thus becoming an obstacle difficult for the attackers to overcome to reach the city walls. It was so thick that it could accommodate two horses walking side by side.
Bab Zewaila
You will see at these doors that appeared in the walls of Cairo during the three eras in which they arose, the masterpieces of war architecture in the Islamic civilization. Obviously, it was the reason for its glory, splendor, and beauty in architecture and design.
Bab Zewaila, it’s the most famous of those doors because it was where the heads of the Tatars hung when they came threatening the Egyptians, and Sultan Toman Bey was also executed upon him when Selim I conquered Egypt and annexed it to the Ottoman state, and many princes and senior statesmen were also hanged on it, and its use did not stop The heads of those who were hanged except in the era of Khedive Ismail.
( Bab Zuweila ) open-air places in Cairo
This beautifyl Bab Zuweila was named after a tribe of Berbers in North Africa, whose soldiers joined the army of Jawhar to conquer Egypt, and it was established by the Emir of the armies Badr al-Gamali in 1092.
Down Town- move into eras visiting Down Town and be closer to the Egyptian
Need to go close to the Egyptians, which will add more great spirit for your tour, as you will make it mixed with the historical eras and the recent eras? Come to the most crowded streets in Egypt in Down Town area, or as the Egyptian called “West El Balad,” that means the heart of Cairo.
open-air places in Cairo
Undoubtedly, Down Town of Cairo is the district you will live in the soul of the Egyptian street, sitting in several cafes, and tasting the Egyptian food, as you will find a lot of restaurants, in addition to there is the hub for transportation in Cairo.
Cairo Down Town
When walking through the Down Town, you will feel that you come back with the time to Europe in the 1880s; Clearly, khedive Ismail had built Down Town to emulate European cities, so he hired European architects to design a whole new district of the city with wide boulevards and architecture that calls to mind Paris during the same era. You will see that clearly when seeing the historical buildings like Yacoubian Building, Groppi, Bahler, Sednaoui, and Immobilia.
Streets
Obviously, you will find each street at the Down Town carries a great name that had given the history a story as a gift like Talaat Harb, Qasr El Nil, Champollion, July 26, Hoda Shaarawi, Sabri Abu Alam; On the other hand, streets that carried the Cairo stories, which in turn are the summary of the stories of Egypt.
open-air places in Cairo
When you live amazing hours in a great historical district feeling a special sense, you will find in your way the Egyptian museum, and the Museum of Islamic Art, which will move you into other ears that Egypt had witnessed. That is how Down Town is where you get to know more about the history of Egypt from the pharaohs until this moment.
