Editing Fortifications of Cairo (section)

== Historical development ==

=== Fatimid walls ===
[[File:The story of Cairo (1906) (14782234955).jpg|thumb|Plan of [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimid]] Cairo according to [[Stanley Lane-Poole]], showing the city wall and the known gates]]{{See also|Fatimid architecture#Fortifications}}
Cairo was founded as a palace-city in 969 by the [[Fatimid Caliphate]]. [[Jawhar al-Siqilli]], the Fatimid general who led the conquest of Egypt, oversaw the construction of the city's original walls, which were built of [[mudbrick]].<ref name=":022" /><ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last=Pradines |first=Stephane |date=2002 |title=La muraille ayyoubide du Caire : les fouilles archéologiques de Bâb al-Barqiyya à Bâb al-Mahrûq |url=https://www.academia.edu/2070837 |journal=Annales Islamologiques |location=Cairo |publisher=Institut français d'archéologie orientale (IFAO) |volume=36 |pages=288}}</ref> According to later medieval sources, these first city walls, which had a roughly rectangular outline, had eight gates. On the north side were two gates named ''Bāb al-Futūḥ'' ("Gate of Conquests") and ''Bāb al-Naṣr'' ("Gate of Victory"); on the east side were ''Bāb al-Barqiyya'' ("Gate of the Barqa regiment") and ''Bāb al-Qarrātīn'' ("Gate of the clover merchants"); to the south were ''Bāb Zuwayla'' ("Gate of the Zuwayla") and ''Bāb al-Faraj'' ("Gate of Joy"); and on the west side were ''Bāb al-Qanṭara'' ("Gate of the bridge [over the [[Khalij canal]]]") and ''Bāb al-Sa'ada'' ("Gate of Felicity").<ref name=":03" />{{Rp|page=37}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Bloom |first=Jonathan M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S7dUv-1Ql2oC&pg=PA241 |title=City Walls: The Urban Enceinte in Global Perspective |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-521-65221-6 |editor-last=Tracy |editor-first=James D. |language=en |chapter=Walled cities in Islamic North Africa and Egypt with particular reference to the Fatamids (909–1171)}}</ref>{{Rp|page=241}} During the Fatimid period there were many gardens along the walls. A chain of gardens ran past Bab al-Nasr and the garden of al-Mukhtar al-Saqlabi existed outside Bab al-Futuh.<ref name=":23">{{Cite journal |last1=Pradines |first1=Stephane |last2=Khan |first2=Sher Rahmat |date=October 2016 |title=Fāṭimid gardens: archaeological and historical perspectives |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bulletin-of-the-school-of-oriental-and-african-studies/article/abs/fatimid-gardens-archaeological-and-historical-perspectives/6938EF211FDFB41BC2081E9BDCA60FA1 |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |language=en |volume=79 |issue=3 |pages=473–502 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X16000586 |issn=0041-977X}}</ref>
[[File:Northern Walls (8591305342).jpg|thumb|Northern section of the city walls between [[Bab al-Nasr (Cairo)|Bab al-Nasr]] and [[Bab al-Futuh]], dating from the late 11th century Fatimid reconstruction]]
During the late 11th century, the Fatimid vizier [[Badr al-Jamali]] ordered a reconstruction of the walls primarily out of stone and further outward than before to expand the space within Cairo's walls.<ref name=":022" /> Construction began in 1087.<ref name=":11">{{Cite journal |last=Warner |first=Nicholas |date=1999 |title=The Fatimid and Ayyubid Eastern Walls of Cairo: missing fragments |url=https://www.ifao.egnet.net/anisl/33/11/ |journal=Annales islamologiques |volume=33 |pages=283–296}}</ref> The architectural elements of the walls were informed by Badr al-Gamali's Armenian background, and were innovative in the context of Islamic military architecture in Egypt.<ref name=":142">{{Cite journal |last1=Salcedo-Galera |first1=Macarena |last2=García-Baño |first2=Ricardo |date=2022-09-01 |title=Stonecutting and Early Stereotomy in the Fatimid Walls of Cairo |journal=Nexus Network Journal |language=en |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=657–672 |doi=10.1007/s00004-022-00611-1 |issn=1522-4600 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free |hdl=10317/12232}}</ref> The walls are composed of three vertical levels.<ref name=":142" /> The lower level was elevated above the street and contained the vestibules of the gates, which were accessible by ramps.<ref name=":142" /> The second level contained halls that connected different galleries and rooms.<ref name=":142" /> The third level was the terrace level, protected by parapets, where, near gates, belvederes were built for the caliph and his court to use.<ref name=":142" /><ref name=":23" /> Although it was previously thought that the entirety of Badr al-Jamali's walls were built in stone, more recent archeological findings have confirmed that at least part of the eastern wall was built out of mudbrick, while the gates were built in stone.<ref name=":10" /> The gates of the new walls retained generally the same names and were located in the same areas as those of the old walls.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=245}}

=== Ayyubid walls ===
[[File:Ayyubid wall Cairo DSCF1591.jpg|thumb|Part of the eastern city wall, dating from the [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid]] period (12th–13th centuries) and excavated in the last few decades (as seen from [[al-Azhar Park]])]]
[[Saladin|Salah ad-Din]], the founder of the [[Ayyubid dynasty]], restored the Fatimid walls and gates in 1170<ref name=":11" /> or 1171.<ref name=":8" /> He reconstructed parts of the walls, including the eastern wall.<ref name=":11" /> In 1176, he then embarked on a project to radically expand the city's fortifications. This project included the construction of the [[Citadel of Cairo]] and of a 20 kilometer-long wall to connect and protect both Cairo (referring to the former royal city of the Fatimids) and [[Fustat]] (the main city and earlier capital of Egypt a short distance to the southwest). The entirety of the envisioned course of the wall was never quite completed, but long stretches of the wall were built, including the section to the north of the Citadel and a section near Fustat in south. Work continued under subsequent Ayyubid sultans.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Raymond |first=André |url=https://archive.org/details/cairo0000raym |title=Cairo |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-674-00316-3 |language=en |translator-last=Wood |translator-first=Willard |orig-date=1993}}</ref>{{Rp|pages=90–91}}<ref name=":322" />

[[Al-Maqrizi]], a writer from the later Mamluk period, reports several details about the construction. In 1185–6, the wall around Fustat was being built. In 1192, a trench was being built for the eastern fortifications,<ref name=":03" />{{Rp|pages=|page=91}} by which time some of the eastern wall and its towers were probably in place.<ref name=":8" /> Work continued after Salah ad-Din's death (1193) under his successors, [[Al-Adil I|al-'Adil]] and [[al-Kamil]]. In 1200, orders went out to dig the remaining course of the wall.<ref name=":03" />{{Rp|pages=|page=91}} More sections of the wall were completed by 1218,<ref name=":8" /> but by 1238 work was apparently still ongoing.<ref name=":03" />{{Rp|pages=|page=91}}

The new Ayyubid extensions also added several new gates, of which eight have been identified.<ref name=":03" />{{Rp|pages=|page=96}} The northern extension of the wall, running west from Bab al-Futuh, added two new gates in this area: ''Bāb al-Sharī'ah'' ("Gate of the Law [<nowiki/>[[Sharia]]]"), located close to the Fatimid walls, and ''Bāb al-Baḥr'' ("Gate of the Sea/Water"), located further west and close to the Nile River. The eastern walls near Cairo (north of the Citadel) included, from north to south: ''Bāb al-Jadīd'' ("New Gate"), ''Bāb al-Barqiyya'', and ''Bāb al-Mahrūq'' ("Burned Gate"). The new section of walls near Fustat (south of the Citadel) included, from north to south: ''Bāb al-Qarāfa'' ("Gate of the Cemetery [<nowiki/>[[al-Qarafa]]]") and ''Bāb al-Safā''.<ref name=":03" />{{Rp|pages=87, 96}}

=== Modern restorations and excavations ===
Since 1999, the preserved northern section of Fatimid walls has been cleared of debris and part of a local urban regeneration.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=244}} In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the rubbish hills east of the historic city were excavated and transformed by the [[Aga Khan Trust for Culture]] into [[al-Azhar Park]], which opened in 2005.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aga Khan creates new 30-hectare park in Historic Cairo (Media Advisory) {{!}} Aga Khan Development Network |url=https://www.akdn.org/press-release/aga-khan-creates-new-30-hectare-park-historic-cairo-media-advisory |access-date=2019-11-08 |website=www.akdn.org}}</ref><ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=99}} Parts of the Ayyubid wall and a gate were uncovered in 1998, during this work. Further archeological work and restoration has since taken place in this area.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Pradines |first=Stephane |date=2002 |title=La muraille ayyoubide du Caire : les fouilles archéologiques de Bâb al-Barqiyya à Bâb al-Mahrûq |url=https://www.academia.edu/2070837/_La_muraille_ayyoubide_du_Caire_les_fouilles_arch%C3%A9ologiques_de_B%C3%A2b_al_Barqiyya_%C3%A0_B%C3%A2b_al_Mahr%C3%BBq_ |journal=Annales Islamologiques |location=Cairo |publisher=Institut français d'archéologie orientale (IFAO) |volume=36 |pages=287–337}}</ref>