Founded by Saladin during the Crusades
THE CITADEL OF CAIRO (3)

Work on the Citadel began in 1176 under the supervision of Salah ad-Din's palace controller, Qaraqush (Black Eagle). He demolished the Fatimid mosques and tombs on the site and started building the stone walls and towers that still ring the hill. Stone for the fortifications was quarried from the east side of the Citadel spur. This had the further advantage of separating it from the rest of the Muqattam range. Medieval historians report that the Pyramids of Giza were also used as a convenient source of ready-cut stone.


The Citadel was constructed using the most up-to-date castle building technology that had developed out of nearly 100 years of warfare against the Crusaders. Its dressed stone walls are ten meters high and three meters thick. Wherever possible, they are built on rock, above ground level, to prevent undermining - the most effective means of breaching fortifications during a medieval siege.

Small, halfround towers, with inner chambers, project from their outer facade every 100 meters, allowing the defending garrison to direct flanking fire against enemy soldiers trying to scale the walls. The towers are connected by upper ramparts, once protected by crenellation, and by interior corridors, which ran the full length of the Citadel's original 2.100-meter circumference. The corridors contain small rooms, every ten meters, with window-slits to admit light and allow hidden archers to shoot at enemies from the safety of the inner walls.

The northeastern corner of the Citadel juts out from the rest of the enclosure, dominating the pass cut between the fortress and the Muqattam hills. An invading army could only bypass the walls of Cairo by entering this narrow defile, which is controlled by two towers, the Burg ar-Ramla (Sand Tower) and the Burg al-Haddad (Blacksmith's Tower).

The Citadel initially had three major entrances. The BAB AL-MUDARRAG (Gate of the Steps), on its northwestern side, was the main public entrance, giving access from the city. It was approached by a sloping RAMP ROAD, leading to two fortified gates separated by a curving flight of steep stairs cut into the rock of the Citadel hill. Only the domed vestibule of the upper gate survives.

The other gates are on the east and south sides of the enclosure. Both are protected by twin towers and had bent entrance ways for maximum defense. Their names are unknown, but the southern entrance was probably the BAB AL-QARAFA (Cemetery Gate), named after the burial grounds in the vicinity of the fortress.

The eastern gate is today known by its 18th-century name, the Burg al-Imam. It faces the Muqattam hills and Was the entrance most exposed to enemy attack. In order to protect it against battering rams, it was built above ground level and was reached by way of a bridge across a 16-meter wide moat.

If enemy soldiers managed to storm either of these gates, they would find themselves within an open court, surrounded by inner walls lined with archers. Those who survived this death trap still had to make a 90-degree turn into a tunnel, protected by a second gate, before they could reach the interior of the Citadel. A number of small postern gates were also located around the fortress, enabling the defending garrison to make surprise sorties against an enemy's position outside the walls.

Within the Citadel, the BIR YUSUF (Well of Joseph - i.e. Salah ad-Din) was cut 87 meters through solid limestone, down to the level of the Nile, supplying the fortress with its own impregnable source of drinking water.

Two platforms, one at the top and one halfway down the shaft, were built for ox-powered pumps that raised the water to the level of the upper Citadel.

Surrounding the well is an enclosed spiral staircase with windows for light opening onto the inner shaft.

The stairs descend to the lowest level and give the well its second name, the BIR AL-HALAZUN (Well of the Snail).


A : Upper pumping station with oxen-operated waterwheel.

B : Enclosed spiral staircase around shaft of well.

C : Lower pumping station.

D : Shaft of well: cut 87 meters through solid rock to the level of the Nile.