From City of the (not so) Dead to Green Lung

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The necropolis east of historic Cairo and under Muqattam hills is about ten times bigger than Al Azhar Park just across Salah Salem highway. It has received some attention from architectural historians due to the exquisite funerary architecture. There are tombs, mosques, and schools. Although this is only one layer of this Qarafa, as it is known to Egyptians. Besides the historic layer there is a living community that lives among the historic buildings, mostly in buildings that look like self-built apartment houses elsewhere in the city. Contrary to popular belief, few actually live in the tombs. The population may have changed over the course of the last forty years and it may have been larger at some point but today those living in this part of the city are not many. But there are enough families to give this place a sense of community and keep it alive.

This large area is diverse with different conditions, density of residents, density of historic buildings, and varying levels of livability. Also important to note is that Cairo’s historic cemetery continues south of the city core where it is called the Southern Cemetery or Shafii Cemetery. The Southern Cemetery is about double the size of the northern one. While the northern is about the size of the island of Roda, the southern one is about the size of the island of Zamalek!

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I’ve only walked around the Northern Cemetery so the rest of this post will focus on that experience.

Salah Salem creates a clear edge on the western side of the Qarafa. As soon as one crosses the pedestrian bridge over Salah Salem from Al Azhar Street and into the Qarafa, the highway humm dissipates and it feels very peaceful and almost secluded. It is easy to forget that you are in a city of 20 million while you’re here. Walking around the grid of walled tombs and funerary complexes, varying in size, age, and style, once in a while there is sign of life: a little girl playing with a ball, an old man spinning thread, a puppy with its mother. Considering how forgotten it feels, there is a sense of romanticism that is inseparable from the place.

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An empty sofa at one of the corners is a reminder that this is a nice place to sit. Not only is walking around the regular pedestrian streets so pleasant but it is easy to imagine those streets paved, street furniture arranged in various formations perhaps facing each other to encourage conversation or facing a beautiful wall or door to allow for solitude and contemplation. Some parts of the Qarafa have old trees, others newer trees planted recently but most of it lacks landscaping or vegetation. But some well placed trees and flower boxes can transform the Qarafa into a green lung for the city and a unique network of public spaces.

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Then there is the architecture: Galila El Kadi’s 2007 book by AUC Press, Architecture for the Dead focuses on the built heritage of the cemeteries. The publisher’s blurb is helpful here: “The great medieval necropolis of Cairo, comprising two main areas that together stretch twelve kilometers from north to south, constitutes a major feature of the city’s urban landscape. With monumental and smaller-scale mausolea dating from all eras since early medieval times, and boasting some of the finest examples of Mamluk architecture not just in the city but in the region, the necropolis is an unparalleled—and until now largely undocumented—architectural treasure trove.”

The buildings range from extravagant and large to beautiful simple humble mausolea that can be astonishingly modern(ist) in their simplicity (despite being 300-500 years old). In addition to tombs and mausolea, we visited an incredible mosque, Masjid al Sultan Barquq. For historic photos and architectural description of this outstanding building click here.

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The porch depicted above is one of two identical ones at opposite sides of the front facade. It is one of the most comforting, well balanced spaces I have experienced and the view is stunning. This is the northern porch and it overlooks a particularly green part of the cemetery, dense with trees. Again it is easy to picture what the entire Qarafa would be like with the addition of trees in other parts. From the roof of this building, or from the minarets above, a panoramic view of the city is unlike any I’ve seen: the towers along the Nile are far west, the historic core in the foreground beyond the tree tops and to the north Heliopolis and the east the Muqattam hill.

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Further south (still in the Northern Cemetery) and roughly in its center is a little community with shops and small houses, with some bigger apartment buildings in between. These are not tomb dwellers but if you insist on taking things literally, they do live in the middle of a cemetery. But if it isn’t clear by now, this cemetery isn’t like any other. There is what could be called a main street and even a square. It is quiet, no cars, air is fresh, people are friendly as ever and full of smiles.

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There are too many details, some ancient others only months old but equally fascinating, to mention. The Qarafa is particularly interesting not because of the cliche of “city of the dead” but rather because it is in the middle of Cairo, and it is open (not gated or fenced for example), and it is open for outsiders such as myself to meander through. And although there is great diversity in what this zone offers, it still retains a sense of cohesiveness but it isn’t a neighborhood feel (although that is there in part), and it isn’t architectural uniformity, and it isn’t the product of an urban plan or a master plan, there is something else that creates a sense of cohesion.

There is so much potential for this part of the city to be a green lung punctuated with historic architecture and a thriving small community. And the people who live here will do the job, pave the street, water the trees and restore the buildings if they are taken into account and if a plan is put forth. People have always lived here who worked in maintaining the buildings and tombs. But with the collapse of the Waqf system and as families bury their dead elsewhere outside the historic cemetery, those whose livelihood depended on this place have been forgotten. When we were leaving, a family was sweeping the street in front of their house, hanging lights and preparing for a party “come back tonight,” we were invited to a wedding.

Gamal Mubarak & Co. had a plan for Qarafa, or at least parts of it: to raze the area and make an exclusive complex of office buildings.

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*image at top of this post is a screenshot from Youssef Chahine’s Cairo.

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  1. then-in-english said: Thank you for this beauty-filled update on the “City of the Dead”. Been a long time since I heard anything about this part of Cairo. The photos and the wedding invitation are just wonderful.
  2. cairobserver posted this