Walking through the dusty roads of the cemetary otherwise known as the City of the Dead, I encountered many families living among the tombs and mausoleums as well as small shops and food vendors. The people there were very helpful in helping me finding my sites and some offered to show me some of the tombs in private structures where only family members are allowed.
The equisite examples of Mamluk architecture and the mosque of Farag, the tomb of Barquq , the mosque and tomb of Barsbey, and the madrassa and mausoleum of the Sultan Qait Bey were awe inspiring.
City of the Dead (Qarafa, Arafa) is a four mile long cemetery from northern to southern part of Cairo, Egypt. To the people of Cairo and other Egyptians, it is simply el'arafa which means "the cemetery". It is a bustling grid of tombs and mausoleums where people live and work amongst their dead and ancestors. Many residents live here to be near their loved ones, or because they were forced from more crowded areas in Cairo and 60s immigration from countryside. In fact many came from their villages simply looking for work — a good example of rural to urban migration in an LEDC.
Its foundation dates back to the Arab conquest of Egypt in 642 AD. The Arab commander, Amr ibn al As, founded the first Egyptian Arab capital, the city of Al Fustat, and established his family’s graveyard at the foot of the hill al Moqattam. The other tribes buried their dead within the living quartiers. The following Arab dinasties built own political citadel northwards to the previous, founding a new graveyard every time. The Great Qarafa and the Lesser Qarafa (the commander’s family cemetery) have been inhabiting since the first centuries after the conquest. Its first resident nucleus consisted of the custodians to noble graves and the staff in charge of the burial service as well as the Sufi mystics in their khawaniq (colleges). During the Fatimid Caliphate, because of their Shi’ite faith, the sovereigns supported pilgrimages to Ahl al Bayt (Prophet’s family) shrines as part of their politics. These pilgrimages increased the cemetery’s habitat in order to provide pligrims’ needs. The following sultan, Salah el Din, in order to unify all the four capitals within a surrounding wall, included both cemeteries in an unique urban space. The next Mamluk rulers, originally freed slaves forming a military caste, founded a new graveyard named Sahara, because of its deserted environment, outside the city at its north-eastern border. It was also a place for military parades, such as tournaments and investiture ceremonies, as well as for processions, at which sultan and nobles took part during the religious celebrations. So that many of them built their palaces on the main road of the cemetery in order to assist to the spectacles.
Its foundation dates back to the Arab conquest of Egypt in 642 AD. The Arab commander, Amr ibn al As, founded the first Egyptian Arab capital, the city of Al Fustat, and established his family’s graveyard at the foot of the hill al Moqattam. The other tribes buried their dead within the living quartiers. The following Arab dinasties built own political citadel northwards to the previous, founding a new graveyard every time. The Great Qarafa and the Lesser Qarafa (the commander’s family cemetery) have been inhabiting since the first centuries after the conquest. Its first resident nucleus consisted of the custodians to noble graves and the staff in charge of the burial service as well as the Sufi mystics in their khawaniq (colleges). During the Fatimid Caliphate, because of their Shi’ite faith, the sovereigns supported pilgrimages to Ahl al Bayt (Prophet’s family) shrines as part of their politics. These pilgrimages increased the cemetery’s habitat in order to provide pligrims’ needs. The following sultan, Salah el Din, in order to unify all the four capitals within a surrounding wall, included both cemeteries in an unique urban space. The next Mamluk rulers, originally freed slaves forming a military caste, founded a new graveyard named Sahara, because of its deserted environment, outside the city at its north-eastern border. It was also a place for military parades, such as tournaments and investiture ceremonies, as well as for processions, at which sultan and nobles took part during the religious celebrations. So that many of them built their palaces on the main road of the cemetery in order to assist to the spectacles.
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