This is my first real update of March- I apologize. There will definitely be more in the days to come.
I have come up with several excuses for my lack of updating. I had a few midterms these past few weeks (although they were fairly easy), my computer has been randomly shutting off (there was an issue with the fan, I fixed it), I had a paper due (it was only 2 pages), and last Monday (a week ago) was Muhammad's birthday (but I don't know that I left the dorm that day).
Two weekends ago, I had a field trip to the Southern Cemetery. The trip did not sound too exciting until my professor said that going to this area by myself would be a bad idea. Danger! I thought. After going there, what I think she meant by that is the extreme difficulty of navigating the area and knowing what you are looking at. One of the interesting things about the area is that a number of the mausoleums are treated like dumps by the people in the neighborhood. If you were just passing by, you would probably not realize you were walking by something semi-significant.
It was a bad day (for me) for the field trip. The temperature randomly jumped up to the mid-90's, a sign that I am sure to suffer once it gets above 100 in April and May, and there was a random sand storm. The sand storms are not nearly as cool as they sound. In fact, they are just annoying. It is hazy outside and little grains of sand are in the air. Occasionally some will get in your eyes or mouth and you feel kind of grimey after being outside for awhile, but that is it. You do not have to wear special suits to deal with it like in Dune.
This was the first thing I took a picture of, but I could not tell you what it is. However, this guy in my class who looks like an Arab Zach Braff (Scrubs, Garden State) got in the picture and that is important.
Don't you see it?This is the Mausoleum of Shajarat al-Durr:
Here is the explanation for the hand: I have noticed that there is this guy and girl who try to ruin each others' pictures by doing things like putting hands up at the last second. Funny. I hope they are readers of my blog and look up to me and are now crushed that I disapprove of their actions.I forget al-Durr's significance, I believe she was married to someone in power. My notes say "She killed her husband, husband's first wife killed her. She wanted to be buried near the Prophet's family." Hopefully I am not tested on that..
It is one of the places treated like a dump:
The most architecturally important part of this structure is its mahrab. It is the first existing example in Cairo of a mahrab made of glass:
The people restoring this building only restored two panels inside the squinches to show what it looked like compared to what it looks like now. I may have made that up, but they only restored two panels:
After this mausoleum, we went to the Mausoleum of Sayyida Ruqayya, the wife of a Fatimid Caliph. It was across the street.
There was a shrine inside:
I am pretty sure I heard that the shrine was added later.
The writing in the circle on the right says "and Ali". This phrase is in a lot of Shi'a art and architecture.
After this mausoleum, we headed across the alley to the Mausoleum of Sayyida Atika (the aunt of the Prophet) and Sidi al-Ja'fari (I believe he was a son of one of the founders of one of the main schools of Islamic thought).
Those two domes are what we are looking for..
..however, this is one of my favorite pictures of Cairo I have taken.
The ribbed dome is the one with the aunt of Mohammed. This is also why I said earlier that Shajarat al-Durr wanted to be buried near the family of the Propeht. Shajarat al-Durr's mausoleum is across the street from this.
I do not think there was anything too significant about the building, other than it being the mausoleum of two celebrities. It has interesting squinches, but that is not very interesting..
After this, we took a short bus ride over to another area.
The first place we went was the Tomb of Imam al-Shafi. I do not remember his importance, but his tomb was nice.
The dome of the tomb is the largest wooden structure in Cairo..
..I think this is the only wooden dome we have studied, so it also the only wooden structure we have seen..
The lighting inside was funky, which is a shame because it was absolutely beautiful! Here are the few pictures that turned out decent:
Almost all of what you see now was painted later by the Ottomans.
Everything was painted or decorated!
Calligraphy!
Green lights inside of the shrine
Amidst all of the old beauty was this chandelier:
..atleast it will cut down carbon emissions and save them money on their electic bill
The last place we went to was the mausoleum of the granddaughter of Husayn, son of Ali and grandson of Mohammed. Husayn is an important figure in Islam.
There was not much to this mausoleum, it was a plain room with a shrine inside of it. Apparently, I only took a picture of the entrance:
Some cats:
That was the Southern Cemetery field trip. Not the most exciting place, but interesting.
The most architecturally important part of this structure is its mahrab. It is the first existing example in Cairo of a mahrab made of glass:
The people restoring this building only restored two panels inside the squinches to show what it looked like compared to what it looks like now. I may have made that up, but they only restored two panels:
After this mausoleum, we went to the Mausoleum of Sayyida Ruqayya, the wife of a Fatimid Caliph. It was across the street.
There was a shrine inside:
I am pretty sure I heard that the shrine was added later.The writing in the circle on the right says "and Ali". This phrase is in a lot of Shi'a art and architecture.
After this mausoleum, we headed across the alley to the Mausoleum of Sayyida Atika (the aunt of the Prophet) and Sidi al-Ja'fari (I believe he was a son of one of the founders of one of the main schools of Islamic thought).
Those two domes are what we are looking for..
..however, this is one of my favorite pictures of Cairo I have taken.
The ribbed dome is the one with the aunt of Mohammed. This is also why I said earlier that Shajarat al-Durr wanted to be buried near the family of the Propeht. Shajarat al-Durr's mausoleum is across the street from this.I do not think there was anything too significant about the building, other than it being the mausoleum of two celebrities. It has interesting squinches, but that is not very interesting..
After this, we took a short bus ride over to another area.
The first place we went was the Tomb of Imam al-Shafi. I do not remember his importance, but his tomb was nice.
The dome of the tomb is the largest wooden structure in Cairo..
..I think this is the only wooden dome we have studied, so it also the only wooden structure we have seen..The lighting inside was funky, which is a shame because it was absolutely beautiful! Here are the few pictures that turned out decent:
Almost all of what you see now was painted later by the Ottomans.
Everything was painted or decorated!
Calligraphy!
Green lights inside of the shrine
Amidst all of the old beauty was this chandelier:
..atleast it will cut down carbon emissions and save them money on their electic billThe last place we went to was the mausoleum of the granddaughter of Husayn, son of Ali and grandson of Mohammed. Husayn is an important figure in Islam.
There was not much to this mausoleum, it was a plain room with a shrine inside of it. Apparently, I only took a picture of the entrance:
Some cats:
That was the Southern Cemetery field trip. Not the most exciting place, but interesting.
Thanks so much for posting these pics. I was reading a description of the vaulting in this building so it was great to be able to see it.
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