Muhammad Ali Castle is one of the most famous architectural works in Old Cairo This place, which was built at the foot of Mount Mokattam, which is distinguished by its height from Old Cairo, witnessed many epics throughout the Islamic eras, passing through the Ayyubid era, then the Mamluk era, then the Ottoman era, and finally the era of the Muhammad Ali family, throughout this period, this place was considered the seat of government in Egypt to the extent that in the Mamluk era, when disputes and conflicts between the Mamluks increased, the matter of governance was decided by those who were able to control The mountain castle therefore became a symbol of authority in Egypt throughout the ages.
The reason for the construction!
After Saladin settled in Egypt, after he inherited the Ministry of Egypt from his uncle Asad al-Din, his partner, and then he was able to isolate the last caliph of the Fatimid state, and he became the Sultan of Egypt after a long period of internal wars and many revolutions that Saladin was able to put down, he thought of establishing a castle that would be the seat of his rule because the city of Cairo is not suitable for that, and the reason is not the shape or organization of the city, on the contrary, it was very well organized as well as it was an incubator for the luxurious Fatimid palaces Including the eastern Al-Hayr Palacebut the real reason for Saladin's abandonment of Cairo is that Saladin restored the Sunni doctrine again to Egypt and eliminated the Shiite doctrine, as well as the city was full of followers of the Caliph Al-Adad who were waiting for the right opportunity in order to overthrow Saladin and restore their king again, so Saladin's opinion is that the best solution is to choose a suitable place completely away from the followers of the Fatimids, and the best place for that is Mount Mokattam, that hill that honors The comforting city of Cairo as well as the city of Fustat, and in this place Saladin ensured control over the whole of Cairo.
Events that the castle went through!
The castle of Muhammad Ali or let us mention it by the correct name for it, which is the castle of Saladin, this castle has gone through many events throughout the ages, it should be mentioned that Salah when he started to establish it did not live in it and went to the war of the Crusaders in the Levant, which lived in it was full son of the fair king and this tradition continued after him, and some believe that Sultan Najm al-Din Ayyub wanted to move the seat of government to the castle of Al-Rawda Island, but he died during his war against the campaign of Louis IX On Egypt, so the castle of Saladin remained the seat of the rule of the Bahri Mamluks and also the tower Mamluks after them, and some believe that the queen Shajarat Al-Durr was thrown from the walls of this castle and her body lasted three days without burying her, after killing Izz al-Din Aybak, Sultan of Egypt in this period,also this castle had a great history in the time of the Ottomans and continued to be the seat of the rule of the Ottoman governor, even when Muhammad Ali took over the rule of the mountain castle as the seat of his rule and some believe The massacre of the castle committed by Muhammad Ali against the Mamluks occurred between the walls of this castle, so this castle continued as the seat of government until the reign of Khedive Ismail, who transferred the seat of government to Abdeen Palace.
Description of the castle!
Salah al-Din Citadel is characterized by its very huge walls, which were built over Mount Mokattam, this castle was also provided with a water well located in the castle 90 meters deep carved into the rocks, and this indicates the severe suffering that the workers met in digging this well with simple capabilities at the time, as well as this castle was provided with many doors, which reached five doors, namely the door of Mokattam, the new door, the middle door, and finally the castle door and the door of the farm, and there are also many in this castle Towers, including Mokattam Tower, Safa and Alwa, there are also many palaces, including Al-Jawhara Palace, Al-Haram Palace, Al-Ablaq and Saray Al-Adl in this castle There are also many mosques, the most famous of which is Muhammad Ali Mosque, which was called the Citadel of Muhammad Ali because of the presence of this mosque in it, as well as Al-Nasser Qalawun Mosque and School,as well as Suleiman Pasha Al-Khadem Mosque called Saray Al-Jabal, as well as the Ahmed Katkhuda Mosque called Al-Azab Mosque, the castle also includes many museums such as the Police Museum and the Military Museum, and I want to note On something very important when you visit the castle, do not buy anything from there because the prices there are so exaggerated that on my last visit there the cup of tea ranged in price from 50 to 60 pounds, and at that time its price does not exceed 5 pounds, so watch out for your money.
After Saladin decided to build this castle, he wanted to prove to his soldiers the need for diligence in work, some historians say that Saladin himself carried the construction pick and began at the beginning of the work himself in order to set a very important example in the necessity of hard work and the spirit of the leader that must be available, and it is natural to find that this spirit is available in the man who was able to regain Jerusalem from the hands of the Crusaders, so this matter was to be mentioned, it is also said that Saif al-Din Qutuz was waiting a lot in front of this castle in order to seize the right opportunity when it was overlooking Gulnar from one of the windows of this castle, all these events that passed on this place made him enjoy a very strange spirit that you will not feel unless you visit this castle yourself, also the castle enjoys a very fabulous location because you can see the whole of Cairo from this place and I assure you that the wind is strong in this place to give all these synonyms a strong feeling to the ruler living in this castle that he Indeed, he completely controls not only Cairo but all of Egypt.
