Bab Zuweila

Bab Zuweila was built in 1092 as the southern gate of the Fatimid walled city, one of three survivors from a circuit that once had many more, and it is a serious piece of military architecture with two round-fronted towers, a bent entrance and machicolations over the arch. The two minarets on top are later, added in the fifteenth century by Sultan al-Muayyad whose mosque backs onto the gate, and they can be climbed by a tight stair inside the towers. That climb is the reason most people come: from the balconies you look straight down al-Muizz street, across a field of domes and minarets, with the Citadel to the south and the tentmakers' covered market immediately below. The gate was also where executions were carried out and heads displayed, which the guides will tell you.

History

Cairo was founded in 969 with mudbrick walls, and its southern gate first stood about 100 metres north of the present one; in 1092 the Fatimid vizier Badr al-Jamali refortified the city and rebuilt the gate in stone where it stands today. In 1218 a prison was built beside it, and the future Sultan al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh, once held there, vowed to replace it with a religious complex if he ever came to power; after taking the Mamluk throne he built his mosque on the site in 1415-1422 and used the gate's two bastions as bases for its minarets, finished in 1419 and 1420 by the master builder Muhammad ibn al-Qazzaz. Around 1650 Radwan Bey laid out the market street south of the gate, today's al-Khayyamiyya, the tentmakers' market (Wikipedia, Bab Zuwayla).

Highlights

• The twin climbable minarets - a tight stair to balconies over the old city.
• The Fatimid gate of 1092 - bent entrance, round towers, machicolated arch.
• The view down al-Muizz street - the medieval spine seen end to end.
• The tentmakers' market below - the last covered market street in Cairo.

When to go

October to April. Late afternoon light is best from the minarets and the call to prayer from surrounding mosques is worth timing for. One to two hours with the climb. The tentmakers' market below is liveliest in the morning.

Before you go

The minaret stairs are narrow, dark and steep with an awkward final ladder section, and the balconies have low parapets; it is not for anyone uneasy with heights or confined spaces. The ticket office keeps irregular hours. There is no shade at the top.

Nearby

Al-Muizz street runs north from the gate; the Museum of Islamic Art is a short walk west.

Key facts