Saturday, February 20, 2010

"There's nothing over there you want to see"


This weekend I was able to visit a site that I've wanted to see since I arrived in Cairo, the Mosque of Qaitbey, a 14th century Mamluk ruler and prolific builder. The Lonely Planet guidebook said that "its intricacy and delicacy were never surpassed in Cairo or anywhere else in the Islamic world," and it is featured on the Egyptian 1 pound bill. So while I knew that it wasn't a major tourist destination, I thought that most of the locals would be familiar with its location, or at least its existence. My bad. After we finally managed to escape a taxi who informed us (at the end of a 40 minute ride) that Qaitbey Mosque was in fact in Alexandria, we set out to find someone slightly more knowledgable about the area. We soon met a fairly friendly woman, whose statement is echoed in this post's title. We insisted that we did in fact want to go to the City of the Dead, where the mosque is located, despite its somewhat bleak appearance. It's known as the City of the Dead because it used to be, and still is, a large cemetery. However, for years the deceased interred there have shared space with their living counterparts, which gives the area an entirely unique look and feel. Anyway, a policeman finally pointed us in the direction of the mosque, but warned us that it was far away. Egyptians must have a low estimation of tourist's walking abilities, because it actually took about 4 minutes to reach our destination.
The mosque, which is primarily a tomb for Qaitbey, was much smaller than most which I have visited. Yet its decoration, both inside and outside, matched or exceeded anything I've
seen so far in Islamic Cairo. The dome, which is the most famous part of the complex, does a nice job of combining two distinct geometric patterns, one composed of stars and the other floral. The minaret was also ornately carved, and featured everything from columns that seemed Greek to distinctly Islamic muqarnas (a sort of honeycomb carving). The inside was nicely decorated, with some lovely stained glass windows and a very pretty roof. Although it didn't take long to see the whole building, it was definitely worth the trip out.
Afterwards we decided to wander around the neighborhood for a while, and before long we found an opportunity for some mild mischievousness. In the middle of a quiet alley we came across another old mosque, but this time it was one which had been completely neglected. There was a lot of graffiti and trash lying around, but we still could see some of its former grandeur. The real highlight came when we went in the chamber below the main dome, where we found a mysterious hole in the floor about 8-9 feel deep, with a further dropoff of unknown depth on one side. Images of tomb raiders came to mind, but we resisted the tempation to explore further, since going underneath an abandoned mosque in the City of the Dead just sounds like trouble. Maybe we'll bring some rope on the next visit. After that little adventure we walked around for a little longer, and soon after returned to the dorms for a relaxing Saturday afternoon.

On an unrelated note, I recently finished The Count of Monte Cristo, which I had picked up in Denver as a traveling book. Despite its considerable length it's an easy read, and the last couple hundred pages are quite suspenseful. While reading I thought about how you might put protagonists in two categories: those who impress with their perfection and control, and those whose imperfections further the story and its message. John Galt from Atlas Shrugged would be an extreme example of the first, and James Bond might also fit there. The second type seems to be more common in modern media; to choose a random example the cast of Juno are entertaining because they so often can't control the situation, but they nevertheless survive and even thrive. Edmond Dantes, on the other hand, usually fits squarely in the first category, as the reader only rarely catches glimpses of surprise or uncertainty in his action. I suppose this might just be a distinction between heros and anti-heroes, but I did enjoy thinking about the strengths and weaknesses of each type. If I had to summarize these strengths in one word, I would say that the first are sublime while the second are accesible.

1 comment:

  1. City of the Dead abandoned mosque exploration! Tough call. RAR

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