City of dead. "city of the dead" in cairo Cemetery in cairo

This city combines both a modern metropolis and ancient civilization, and Africa's largest economy with Asia and Europe combined. Past, present and future.

Today the site - Let's dream together, will tell why Cairo is called the "city of the dead", what is the population of densely populated city Africa, how the luxury of the East coexists with poverty on the outskirts ...

The unusually convenient location of Cairo, right in the Nile Delta, allowed small village become the center of the Islamic world, quite in a short period of time.

Trade in spices and spices, ceramics and jewelry made it possible for the city to develop thanks to the myriad profits that flowed like water. Mosques and palaces were built at an incredible pace, the well-being of citizens grew.

Cairo has become a city of "a thousand minarets". But things are not so rosy at present.

Population of Cairo

Egypt's capital has a population of over 20 million and housing shortages are forcing many to look for new places to live or at least relax.

Waste recycling in Europe and Cairo

On the outskirts of Cairo, the "City of the Dead" stretched for four and a half kilometers. The old Arab cemetery turned into a necropolis.

Entire families huddle around graves, necropolis tombs, mausoleums and graves. Almost 500,000 people chose this part of the city to live.

City of the Dead Cairo - El Arafa

Far from the bustle of the capital, among the tombstones, there are entire generations of Egyptians. The dead and the living live the measured life of good neighbors.

The locals are called so: "guardians of the graves."

The cemetery allows them to earn a living. For cleaning and guarding graves and digging new ones for burials.

For the poor dead, it costs $19 to dig a grave, and up to $60 for wealthy clients. This allows gravediggers to support rather big families. Women are engaged in cleaning and cleaning the burials attached to them. Children play and grow there.

Garbage bags rot in the sun waiting to be sorted

An empty tomb serves as a bedroom or living room for the whole family. The mausoleum shelters from the heat and sun, and it is convenient to dry clothes on the tombstone.

On Fridays, it is customary to visit buried relatives. This is an additional income for hairdressers from the City of the Dead. Getting your hair cut and shaved for Friday prayers is sacred.

Making money collecting and sorting garbage is the easiest way to live

Among the graves, milk, fruits and vegetables are sold in the morning. A city within a city lives and develops at its unhurried pace.

The authorities have tried to relocate the people from these slums to new homes on the outskirts, but the population is so large that now this solution has become almost impossible to implement.

Cairo - "Diamond Button"

Such unusual name he got thanks to his good location. The beginning of the Nile River - the delta, made it possible to unite the industry, agriculture and production of Egypt.

To create unified trade and transport routes is the main point. The closure of the delta has acquired the associative name of the “diamond button”.

Cairo - city of scavengers

It is worth moving a little south and you find yourself in the quarter of scavengers. It's in the Zabela Medina area. Making money by collecting and sorting garbage is the easiest way to live and a chance to get extra money. The state strongly encourages residents to buy recycled waste.

Cairo generates over 15,000 tons of solid waste daily. Of these, 60% are sorted and 40% remain in landfills and streets.

Children collect and recycle plastic bottles and paper

Children rush home from school to earn and receive pocket money by sorting garbage.

Everywhere there are special kiosks with signs indicating which waste is accepted where. After that, the waste is pressed and sent to factories for reuse or recycling.

This area is not only a place where waste sorting takes place, but also just a residential area. With its shops, cafes, pharmacies and hairdressers. As elsewhere, people live and work close to home.

And on the side of the road, piles of waste pile up, garbage bags rotting in the sun, waiting to be sorted. Children climb on them and rummage through the waste, hoping to find the remnants of fabric or cardboard. Even used diapers can become a source of income: pieces of cotton wool will go into business ...

Are you still complaining about your job?

And in the Zabela area, people are happy with the opportunity to earn money. They are happy to take pictures with tourists, children enjoy sweets and presents. Laundry is dried over the mountains with garbage, goats live and graze on the roofs (because there is nowhere else) and life goes on as usual.

Life in contrasts against all odds...

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Egypt is known not only for its ancient structures. Many interesting buildings date back to the Islamic period. Among them, special attention can be paid to the huge number of mosques and mausoleums in Cairo, which have come down to us from the Mamluk period (XIII-XVI centuries).

Mamluks - detachments consisting of slaves of Caucasian and Turkic origin. In Egypt, the beginning of the formation of such units dates back to the reign of Sultan Malik Saleh. The placement of the Mamluks was made on the island of Roda in the river. In Arabic, the river is called "Bahr", which is why the first dynasty of Mamluk sultans is called here the Bahri Mamluks.

The time of the Mamluks is the time of endless feudal war, chaos and change of power. On average, each of the sultans held the throne for only five years. Of course, each of them wanted to leave a mark on the history and architecture of the city, so this period left a special mark among the architectural monuments.

At this time, Cairo becomes large shopping mall and getting richer every day. This is due to the past crusades and European interest in Egyptian goods, in particular, spices. In addition, at this time, Cairo begins to be actively used as a transit point between the countries of the East and Europe.

At the same time, the first buildings of the famous cemetery, the City of the Dead, appeared in the northeast of Cairo. After the first gravestone of Badr al-Gamali appeared here, the area began to grow and attract more and more attention. Many of these structures have not reached our times intact, but there are still more than 50 objects here.

The main peak of buildings falls on the 15th century. All mausoleums are different, and, depending on the time of construction, have different architectural designs. Early buildings are more squat, while later ones, on the contrary, look slender and elevated. But there are also similar moments - all the mausoleums are square in plan, slightly elongated and decorated with a dome. You can also highlight the abundance of windows and doorways. It may seem to someone that the mausoleums themselves have a rather meager appearance, so you should look at them as an integral ensemble.

City of the Dead or El-Arafa (in Arabic cemetery), as the Egyptians call this necropolis, is located in the southeast of Cairo. On 6 square kilometers there are tombs and mausoleums. The city of the dead is quite an interesting place, because people live and work in this cemetery.

The first burials in dead city were produced during the Arab conquest of Egypt. And this, no less, 642 BC.

Period of the Arab conquest of Egypt

The Arab commander-in-chief Amr ibn al-As founded the first family cemetery here. His example was followed by other Arab commanders, and soon a real network of Arab cemeteries formed near the hill called Mokattam. Around this time, special tombs were created here, in which, for example, distant relatives of the Prophet Mohammed himself were buried. These tombs attracted the attention of numerous Muslim pilgrims who spread the news of the new cemetery throughout Egypt and far beyond.

During the Fatimid Caliphate, the development of the necropolis received a new round. The four largest cemeteries were combined into a single complex surrounded by a main wall.

Creation of the first mausoleums

Egypt XIV-XV centuries, Mamluk period. The country is divided into numerous small feuds, headed by the Mamluk sultans, who at all times were distinguished by bloodthirstiness and aggression. Feudal wars flare up one by one, taking both ordinary warriors and well-known military leaders to the grave. One of these kings was a certain Badr al-Gamali, whose mausoleum was built in El-Arafa first of all, around the 13th century.

Each of the other sultans also sought to leave a mark on the history and architecture of Cairo. This could be done in the form of a monument or a mausoleum. By the 15th century, such structures were built most of all. Naturally, the construction required both materials and a real army of workers who settled around in their own houses, but more often in hostels that the sultans erected at their own expense.

The tombs that formed the necropolis at the end of the 15th century received a new form: from squat buildings they turned into real works of monumental art, striking both in shape and height. The cemetery expanded, absorbing the areas where the workers lived. Local infrastructure was created, its own trade developed, and over the next five centuries, the necropolis created a special urban area around itself.

Of the most famous tombs dead city the following are worth mentioning:

• Tomb of El Hussein - the great-grandson of the Prophet Mohammed
• Zayida Zainab - patron saint of Cairo, sister of the martyr El Hussein
• Sheikh Ali, famous during his lifetime for miracles
• Al Salih Ayyib - last of the Ayyib dynasty of sultans
• Shagar Al Durr - widow of Al Salih Ayib, ruler of the early Mamluk era
• Patron Saints Nafisa, Rukkaya, Atika and Sukayna

City of the Dead: Our Time

In the 40s of the XX century, a large number of impoverished villagers who began to settle in crypts and tombs in exchange for the improvement of the graves and care for them. This original business has survived to this day.

Currently, the City of the Dead is one of the attractions of Cairo. The number of people living in it - residents with extremely low incomes - already exceeds the number of burials.

Each of the approximately fifty mausoleums of the Dead City, taken separately, cannot boast of attractive appearance. It's not so much to blame architectural style how much their venerable age. Nevertheless, together they create a unique historical ensemble that attracts with its color and originality.

Since el-Arafa ceased to be a functioning cemetery several centuries ago, the people who inhabit it are mostly small artisans and merchants living below the poverty line. Only a few of them actually live on the graves of their ancestors. Most of the current population of the Dead City moved here as a result of the massive development of the city center and the demolition of dilapidated housing in Cairo, which began in the 50s, during the presidency of Abdel Nassr. Also, many villagers moved here, who moved to Cairo in search of a better life.

In 1992, after the devastating Cairo earthquake, the City of the Dead was replenished with new residents. Its current population is approximately half a million inhabitants.

City of the dead now
the ruins of ancient mausoleums are taken under state protection

Despite the fact that a visit to al-Arafah is not included in the list of the most popular tourist routes, this place is definitely worth a visit in order to feel the spirit and see the way of real Arab life. We recommend that you go on such a trip only in the company of a local companion or an experienced guide.

There is a tourist Egypt - an all-inclusive package, a beach, diving, evening beer, obligatory boredom. And there is a mysterious Egypt, which must be conquered by yourself, having agreed with the agency about individual tour. You can travel to local shrines only accompanied by guards. The exception is Cairo and its environs. Mandatory conditions for going to the Egyptian people are an inner readiness for miracles and a share of adventurism. Observing the etiquette in clothes (open areas of the body are minimized), you can safely visit several important points of the city - real places of power.

Cairo Museum

It is located in the very center of the city - a solid building in which 120 thousand exhibits sleep and dream. Museums in general are a phenomenon. For some reason, the tombs are considered scary and mysterious, but the museums, which store all the same things, only in much larger quantities, are reputed to be the abode of boredom. Meanwhile, their corridors are roaming ethereal shadows and bizarre as they please. How many times did the author of these lines, wandering alone in the enfilade of Kuskovo or Fontainebleau, notice a movement in the corner of her eye or a restrained chuckle.

There are quite a lot of visitors in the Cairo Museum - this is a minus. There are a lot of halls in it, that there is an opportunity to get lost - this is a plus. The most popular part of the museum belongs to the mummies and the golden mask of Tutankhamun. The most interesting is the family of Akhenaten and Nefertiti.

The upper floors store small objects (Fayum portraits, dishes and utensils). It is relatively calm here, and only the most sensitive explorers of the incomprehensible can hear whispers and rustles here. The invisible life is much more active on the first floor, in the right gallery (when viewed from the entrance). There you will find a cluster of figures - from human height and higher, higher ... Giants surround the visitor from all sides. Nothing threatening, you feel moderate interest and should behave decently.

An ordinary tourist flies through this corridor rapidly, justifying himself by the fact that he is tired, that he has been wandering around the museum idle for two hours, that he wants to drink and eat (there is no food inside the museum). Knowing a lot about miracles, freezes in the corridor of megaliths for a long time. There are single giants here, there are couples and even triplets - the ruler, his wife and his right hand, friend and adviser. Hours pass in reflection on how high relations should be in such unions. You look at them, they look at you.

coptic quarter

This strange place which is always under renovation. It consists of a luxurious museum, the main church of the Virgin (Al-Muallaq),

Church of St. Sergius

and the streets of Old Cairo, located significantly below the asphalt level.

When you go down the stairs, do you go deep into time - or deep into yourself? Feelings are conflicting. There are hundreds of worshipers and pilgrims around. There are not so few Christians in Egypt, and they all come to pray here, in the area of ​​Babylon.

The fact is that the Copts are Christians forgotten in a Muslim country. They did not accept the schism of churches, they were eternally persecuted and despised, they left behind a naive art - dancing little men with big eyes. Their icons are painted as if artlessly, but the more you look at them, the deeper you understand the Coptic style “let's be like children”.

There is a synagogue in the Coptic quarter. Copts are kind, they accept everyone who feels bad. And at certain hours you can go down to the cave where the holy family allegedly hid during the flight from Egypt, and then several ascetics lived in it, century after century. I don't know about the family, but the dungeon is very prayerful. Going down into it, you feel a special kind of excitement and delight.

All these places are described in detail in guidebooks, but at the end of the labyrinth of Old Cairo there is one inconspicuous church in which happiness lives. It is difficult to describe in words the church concept of "grace". Scientists would say something about the breakdown of trace elements and their entry into some pleasure centers. Cult workers would raise their eyes to the sky. It was enough for me that birds sang in this church.

You go into a small, not very well-kept church of St. Barbara. For some reason, you sit down - in Coptic churches there are benches, as in Catholic churches. You sit for two minutes and realize that large tears are rolling from your eyes. That you are so light and sorry for everyone, that you as an egoistic unit do not exist at all. And over all this storm of feelings invisible goldfinches sing. They nest above the vault, high under the roof. They are not driven. They understand that it is their chatter that creates an unprecedented psychedelic effect.

If we talk about paranormal phenomena, officially recorded, then there are enough of them in the Coptic diaspora. In the church of Sergius, a cross streams myrrh over the described cave. Twenty years ago, night lights were recorded without a light source in the church of St. mch. Damian in the Shubra district of Cairo. Most famous miracle It was in Zeytun on the outskirts of Cairo: the Mother of God repeatedly appeared there, large, with a crowd of people, on the roof of a Coptic church. Mirages happened throughout 1968, and even if it was someone's scam (to blow fog and project a filmstrip on it), it was not done out of evil, but for good. Because it is possible to support a superstitious people only by a miracle.

City of dead

A cemetery where quite cheerful people live.

The giant necropolis of El Khalifa, partly inhabited - this is how the government solved the housing problem. The cemetery for the wealthy in Egyptian style consists of pleasant little estates: a four-room house, a small garden, even some architectural excesses are present. Most of the houses have an owner, an ancestor of the buried. But the owner is reluctant to go to the necropolis every week, look after the garden, brush off the dust in the house. Therefore, he allows some hardworking family to settle in the grave house, which will honor what is left of their eminent relative in the past, and the house will not fall apart. Others even pay the settlers for their work.

The inhabitants of the City of the Dead live off tourism. For the entrance to the house and the inspection of the grave, they take from a dollar and more from the nose. During the day, several hundred curious people pass through the city - children beg for imported pens from them, adults invite them into their homes. El Khalifa has everything: mosques, shops, tea houses, cafes, tire fitting, wheel alignment. There are quiet and wild places of desolation where one wants to roam Byronically. Only the locals themselves do not advise. They say that these are European stupidities, in fact, it’s scary there, hungry ghosts and brutalized beggars dart around.

Tatyana Arefieva.Published: Magic Cosmo January 2006.

General view of the city of the Dead

City of dead, or Cairo Necropolis (Qarafa, Al Araf listen)) is an Islamic necropolis and cemetery below the Muqatta Hillsley in southeastern Cairo, Egypt. The people of Cairo, the Cairenes, and most of the Egyptians, call him el'arafa(trans. "Cemetery"). It is 4 miles (6.4 km) long (north-south) of a dense grid of tomb and mausoleum structures where some people live and work among the dead. Some are here to be close to the ancestors of the last recorded ancient family. Some of them live here after being forced away from downtown Cairo due to urban renewal demolitions and urbanization pressures that increased from the Gamal Abdel Nasser era into the 1950s onward. Other residents have emigrated in from rural areas looking for work - an example of rural to urban migration in the LEDC (Least Economically Developed Countries). The poorest live in the City of Dead Slums, and the City of Scavengers, which is also known as Garbage City, a recycling and reuse center for Zabbaleen vendors.

history

Caliphate era

Traditional Sunnism had rich history veneration of saints, often referred to as awli or "friends of God." Like the Mawlid of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the birth of some saints is celebrated by the people in the City of the Dead. Great holidays are held for the purpose of celebrating the birth of these people, as well as receiving them barakah or blessings. Zainab bint Ali was one such figure.