The Citadel, which sits on the top of Cairo’s highest hill, has become as much a symbol of the city as the beautiful Mohammed Ali Mosque. The building has a North Wing and a South Wing, each used for different things.

The massive walls and towers in the north have always been used for defense, while the smaller, more haphazard buildings in the south have always been the royal home. Let’s make a quick trip to see everything the South Wing offers.

When you visit the Citadel, you’ll have to climb many steps, like the ones that lead to the Gauhara Palace, the Police Museum, and the Military Museum, where the steps go on and on. Remember that a visit to the Citadel is not a stroll in the park but an exciting trip back in time.

 

The Muhammad Ali Mosque and the Guajara Palace:

After we go through the ticket booth and enter the Citadel of Saladin, let’s go up the hill to the Muhammad Ali Mosque, which can be seen from a long way away over the southern part of Cairo. After tearing down many Mamluk homes, including Great Lebanon, Muhammad Ali began building the mosque in 1824.

So, he filled it in by putting up 10 meters of terrace. But before we go inside, let’s look at the Gaukhara Palace, which was built by Muhammad Ali in 1814 and is on the left side of the road in front of the mosque.

They lived here until 1827 when he finally finished building a new Kharamek mansion. After Mohamed Ali moved, he used the al-Guahara palace as his official guesthouse. In 1972, an electrical fire burned the building down to the ground, giving it its current humble look.

After being fixed up, the palace was open to the public for a short time. Since then, it has been closed for the better part of a decade. We’ll have to wait and see when we can return to the castle. At this point, you can only see the palace’s walls and learn about its history.

 

Muhammad Ali Mosque:

Next, we’ll go to the mosque in the courtyard between the Police Museum and the entrance to the North Wing of the Citadel. El-Nasir Mohammed built the best example of a mosque from the Mamluk period that is still standing. The current mosque is built on the site of a mosque that was built as early as 1318, and it was fixed up by al-Nasir in 1335. The al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque was the Citadel’s main mosque until the Muhammad Ali Mosque was finished.

The mihrab niche in the qibla wall can be seen as soon as you walk through the arcade or covered gallery into the courtyard. This mosque has three places: one big one in the middle and two smaller ones on each side. On the wall are pieces of inlaid marble panels that look like the ones at the Ablaq Palace (the palace built by Al-Nasir Mohammed), the ruins of which can be seen on the terrace of the police museum).

 

Yusuf’s well and water supply:

Let’s turn right when we leave the al-Nasir Mohammed Mosque and go around it. We’ll use the first path on the right to go around the east side of the building. From the top of the famous Yusuf well, we’ll see the tower that looks out over the 97-meter drop to the Nile. At the top of the hill, several water mills got their water from this well and two other aqueducts that brought water down to the bottom of the mountain.

 

Ablaq Palace and Bab al-Alam:

The Striped Palace, also called Qasr al-Ablaq, is right from the al-Nasir Mohammed Mosque. The “Striped Palace” was started by Ashraf al-Khalil and finished by al-Nasir Mohammed. Today, only the name and a few ruins are left.

 

The territory of the police museum:

Let’s leave the Muhammad Ali Mosque through the Bab al-Alam stone gate in the north. The gate was first built when Muhammad Ali was in charge, and Ibrahim Pasha fixed the top wall.

We can see the old military jail on the right as we go up to the rooftop deck. In prison, there are 40 cells and two rows next to each other with a space in the middle. The first building was finished in 1882 when Khedive Ismail was in charge. After it stopped being used as a jail in 1984, it is now a museum.

As we walk past the jail and up to the terrace, we can see, to our left, the remains of the Al-Ablak palace, which was built in 1315. These remains are in a gated pit. All that is left of this house, which was once very nice. When Muhammad Ali made a terrace for his mosque and a lower deck for the cannons, he tore it down and filled the space with stones. Place: The Ablaq Palace in the Citadel.

Let’s see the collection of police stations and fire trucks. Between the cafeteria and the police museum, on the side of the jail building that leads out to a terrace, you can find a large room with old fire pumps that were once used to put out fires in Cairo.

On the right side of the chamber are the two oldest pumps: a hand-cranked pump motor from 1766 and a steam engine-powered pump from 1885. There are two pumps and a rolling ladder that were both made in England in 1936. Along one wall, you’ll find helmets, axes, and even some old fire extinguishers, among other things.

 

The North Wing:

Leave the terrace and go into the castle through the Bab al-Kulla gate, which Mamluk Sultan Baibars built in the 1300s. This will take you north. Muhammad Ali made the gates wider because they were too small before for his carriages to fit through.

In 1827, Mohammed Ali had the Haramlik Palace built right before us. Inside the palace grounds, there are a total of three palaces: the central, eastern, and western palaces. During the British takeover of Egypt, British soldiers lived at the Citadel, and the main wing of the court was turned into a military hospital.

In 1947, the British left the Citadel, and in 1949, the palace became a museum for the first time. The National Military Museum is now in the court, and outside is a bronze statue of Ibrahim Pasha on a horse that is an exact copy of the one in Opera Square in downtown Cairo.

 

Museum of Royal Carriages:

Once we’re done with the military displays, let’s stay away from the long wing on the left side of the museum. There, the road goes straight until it makes a sharp turn to the right and drops us off in an ample open space on the east side of the North Wing of the Citadel.

The far corners of the North Wing are rarely seen by guests, which is why they are always so quiet and peaceful. You can find a sign for the Royal Carriage Museum right here. Metal horse heads decorate the outside wall of the museum, making it easy to find.

 

Mosque of Soliman Pasha and towers of the Citadel:

The Soliman Pasha Mosque is in the northernmost part of the wing, and the Carriage Museum is on the other side of this place. We should leave the mosque and head north to the garden of the Archaeological Museum. This large area is known for its columns, plants, and clear views of the two Ayyubid-era towers that guard the entrance.

From the towers of Burg al-Ramla and Burg al-Hadid, which you can get to by walking along the walls, you can see a breathtaking view of the Northern Cemetery. The most important part of the Burg al-Ghadid also called the New Gate, is its curved entrance, which made the enemy show the defenders of the stronghold their weak side.