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Click on any photo to see an enlarged version.
The Northern Enclosure of Cairo's Citadel is surrounded by the Citadel's original Ayyubid walls and towers.
Salah ad-Din's twin towers, known as the BURG AL-MATAR, defended the Bab al-Qarafa (Cemetery Gate),
the southern entrance of the Northern Enclosure. Under al-Kamil, the upper platform became the site of the
sultan's pigeon post, hence its name, the 'Flight Tower'. The gateway was walled up and its enclosed
entrance court filled with rubble in 1501 by the Circassian Mamluk sultan, Canbalat, in anticipation of an
Ottoman attack.
* The 50-meter stretch of wall between the Burg al-Matar and the Burg al-Muballat dates from the reign of
Salah ad-Din. Notice how midway along the wall the fortifications are built on the rock of the Citadel hill,
which begins to rise above ground level at this point. The construction of walls and towers on an elevated
rock foundation was a defensive measure to protect the fortifications from battering-rams and undermining. .
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Last updated: 6/12/06