The Architecture of Cairo

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture

Instructor: Prof. Nasser Rabbat

http://web.mit.edu/4.615/www/

Description:

Among the cities associated with the Islamic civilization, Cairo is perhaps the most representative culturally and certainly the richest architecturally. Founded in 634 at the strategic head of the Nile Delta, the city evolved from a military outpost to the seat of the ambitious and singular Fatimid caliphate between the 10th and 12th century. Its most spectacular age, however, was the Mamluk period (1250-1517) which established it as the uncontested center of a resurgent Sunni Islam and produced a wealth of religious, palatial, and commemorative structures that synthesized the achievements of previous periods and symbolized the image of the city for centuries to come. After that, Cairo was reduced to an Ottoman provincial capital until the end of the eighteenth century. Then it witnessed a short and capricious renascence under the independent-minded Muhammed 'Ali Pasha (1805-48) followed by a period of vacillation between conservatism and modernization that was exacerbated by the late-twentieth-century problems of population explosion and underdevelopment.

Yet, Cairo still shines as a cultural, political, and economic center in three spheres of influence: the Arab world, Africa, and the Islamic world. Moreover, many of its Islamic monuments (456 registered by the 1951 Survey of the Islamic Monuments of Cairo) still stand, although they remain largely unknown to the world's architectural community and their numbers are dwindling at an exceedingly alarming rate.

In this course we will recount the story of Cairo. We will review its urban and architectural developments form the initial settlement on the site to the twentieth century and interpret them in light of the cultural, political, and social history of the country, the region and the world. We will examine Cairene architectural types and urban patterns to see how they reflect various regional influences and relate to their counterparts in the wider Islamic and Mediterranean contexts. The course is open to both graduate and undergraduate students. A number of discussion sessions are scheduled throughout the course to further address the critical and paradigmatic architectural and urban issues. Students are encouraged to contribute to the structure and topics of the discussion sessions as part of their course requirements.

Syllabus

Part 1: Beginnings: History, Geography, and Religion

1.History and Geography

The Nile and the Site of Cairo

The Legacy of Ancient Egypt

2.Egypt on the Eve of Islam

Hellenism, Christianity, and the Copts

The coming of Islam

3.The Foundation of al-Fustat

The Mosque of `Amru ibn al-`As: the first mosque in Africa

The vocabulary of the mosque: the minaret, the mihrab and the minbar

The Nilometer

4.Imperial Ambitions: Ibn Tulun and al-Ikhshid

The foundation of al-Qata'i`: The Mosque of Ibn Tulun

Buildings of the Ikhshidids

Reading:

Behrens-Abouseif, 3-34, 47-57.

Abu-Lughod, 3-25.

Briggs, 47-62.

Encyclopedia of Islam, 2d Ed., vol. 4, article "Kahira," vol. 5, art. "Mihrab," and "Minbar."

Dickie, James. "Allah and Eternity: Mosques, Madrasas, and Tombs," In: ed. G. Michell, Architecture of the Islamic World: Its History and Social

Meaning. 65-79.

Part 2: Age of the Caliphate: The Fatimids

5.The foundation of Cairo

Fatimid palaces

Comparison with contemporary Islamic cities

6.Fatimid Mosques of Cairo: new traditions and old forms

The Azhar Mosque and the Institution of religious learning

The centrality of the mosque in a medieval Islamic urban setting

Mosques of al-Hakim, al-Aqmar, and al-Salih Tala'i`.

7.The Cult of Saints: mashhads and mausolea

Genealogy as a propaganda tool for the Fatimids

The evolving function of the dome

The appearance of the muqarnas: decorative purposes and symbolic meanings

8.The defenses of Cairo

The first walls of al-Mu`izz

The walls of Badr al-Jamali

The gates of Cairo and the question of regional influences

The Crusades, the fall of the Fatimids, and the rise of Salah al-Din

Reading:

Behrens-Abouseif, 58-77.

Briggs, pp. 63-75.

Rabbat, The Citadel of Cairo, pp. 1-17.

Rabbat, "Al-Azhar Mosque: An Architectural Chronicle of Cairo's History. "Muqarnas 13 (1996): 45-67.

Bloom, Jonathan. "The Mosque of al-Hakim in Cairo," Muqarnas 1 (1983) 15-36.

Behrens-Abouseif, "The Facade of the Aqmar Mosque in the Context of Fatimid Ceremonial," Muqarnas 9 (1992): 29-38.

Idem, "The Mosque of the Qarafa in Cairo," Muqarnas 4 (1987): 7-20.

Williams, Caroline. "The Cult of the `Alid Saints in the Fatimid Monuments of Cairo. Part1: The Mosque of al-Aqmar," Muqarnas 1 (1983): 37-52.

Idem, "The Cult of the `Alid Saints in the Fatimid Monuments of Cairo. Part 2: The Mausolea," Muqarnas 3 (1985) 39-60.

Sanders, Paula. Rituals, Politics and the City in Fatimid Cairo, N.Y., 1994. Pp. 39-67.

Part 3: Rise to Prominence: Ayyubids and Bahri Mamluks

9.The relationship of the citadel to the city

The emerging importance of the citadel as the residence of the ruler

The Roda Citadel and the urban development of Cairo in the Ayyubid period

10.Ayyubid architecture and the Sunni Revival

The Mausoleum of al-Imam al-Shafe`i

The introduction of the madrasa: The Madrasa of al-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub

The political and social functions of the madrasa

The mausoleum of the ruler

11.The Bahri Mamluks: continuity and change

A brief introduction to the Mamluk system

The Mosque of al-Zahir Baybars and traditional forms

The Complex of Qalawun and the Syrian import

12.The apogee of Medieval Cairo

The City under al-Nasir Muhammad

The charitable institutions of al-Nasir Muhammad's princes

The Waqf system

13.Mamluk Madrasas and Khanqahs and the problem of the Four-Iwan Plan

The royal madrasas on the main thoroughfare of Cairo

The Madrasas of Sultan Hasan

14.Residential and Palatial architecture

A brief survey of residential architecture up to the Mamluk period

Royal and princely palaces of the fourteenth century

15.The urban character of Mamluk architecture

A short film, Medieval Cairo by Nezar AlSayya

Reading:

Behrens-Abouseif, pp. 35-44, 78-132.

Abu-Lughod, pp. 27-36.

Briggs, pp. 76-109, 145-64 (Domestic Architecture).

MacKenzie, Neil D. Ayyubid Cairo: A Topographical Study, Cairo, 1992.

Rabbat, The Citadel of Cairo, 283-95.

Irwin, Robert. The Middle East in the Middle Ages, The Early Mamluk Sultanate 1250-1382, (Carbondale, 1986).

Bylinski, Janusz. "Darb Ibn al-Baba. A Quarter in Mamluk Cairo in the Light of Waqf Documents", Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt, 31, (1994): 203-22.

Fernandes, Leonor. "The Foundation of Baybars al-Jashankir: Its Waqf, History, and Architecture," Muqarnas 4 (1987): 21-42.

Grabar, Oleg. "Reflections on Mamluk Art," Muqarnas 2 (1984): 1-12.

Humphreys, R. Stephen. "The Expressive Intent of the Mamluk Architecture in Cairo: a Preliminary Essay," Studia Islamica 35 (1972): 69-119.

Ibrahim, Laila A. "Residential Architecture in Mamluk Cairo," Muqarnas 2 (1984): 47-59.

Williams, John Alden. "Urbanization and Monument Construction in Mamluk Cairo," Muqarnas 2 (1984) 33-45.

Part 4: Afterglow of Empire: Burji Mamluks and Ottomans

16.The mosques, madrasas, and mausolea of the Burji Sultan

Urban complex from Barquq to Khayer Bak

17.The growth of Cairo and the development of the Qarafas

The royal charitable complexes from Umm Anuk to Qaytbay

18.The Mamluk style

The development of the dome, the minaret, and the Qa`a under the Mamluks

The development of Mamluk decorative techniques and patterns

19.The coming of the Ottomans

The urban changes in Cairo from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries

Ottoman mosques in Cairo: wavering between the local and the official

20.Cairene Ottoman houses

The stabilization of a hybrid type

Comparison with houses of other Ottoman provinces

21.The legacy of the pre-modern city

The French Expedition and the Description de l'Egypt

Reading:

Behrens-Abouseif, pp. 133-67.

Abu-Lughod, pp. 37-79.

Briggs, pp. 110-44.

Behrens-Abouseif, Doris. Azbakiyya and its Environs: From Azbak to Ismail (1476-1879). (Cairo, 1985).

Idem, "The `Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda Style in 18th century Cairo," Annales Islamologiques 26 (1992): 117-26.

Hanna, Nelly. An Urban History of Bulaq in the Mamluk and Ottoman Periods. (Cairo, 1983).

Kessler, Christel. The Carved Masonry Domes of Medieval Cairo. (Cairo, 1976).

Idem, "Funerary Architecture Within the City," Colloque International sur l'Histoire du Caire (27 Mars-5 Avril 1969). 257-67.

Campo, Juan Eduardo. The Other Sides of Paradise: Explorations into the Religious Meanings of Domestic Space in Islam. Columbia, S C, 1991. Pp. 74-94.

Gillispie, Charles C. and Michael Dewachter (eds), Monuments of Egypt: the Napoleonic Edition: the complete archaelogical plates from la Description de l'Egypte. Princeton, 1987. Pp.1-30.

Part 5: Modernization and After: Muhammad `Ali to the Present

22.The architectural and urban works of Muhammad Ali

The Mosque at the Citadel

The Westernization of the palatial architecture

The modernization of the city of Cairo

23.Orientalism and the Fascination of Egypt

Ethnographer-Painters and the romanticization of Cairo

The Comite de preservation des monuments du Caire and preservation

24.Cairene architecture in the late nineteenth century

Historicism and the Mamluk revival

The Mosque of al-Rifa`i

Other Orientalizing styles

Cosmopolitan architecture

25.The emergence of vernacular style in the 1940s

The works of Hasan Fathy, Ramses Wissa Wasef, and their students

26.Cairo's expansion and modernization

Population explosion and urban chaos

Problems of preservation and accommodation

The image of Cairo: past and present

Reading:

Behrens-Abouseif, pp. 167-70.

Abu-Lughod, pp. 83-117.

Lane, Edward William. Cairo Fifty Years Ago. Edited by Stanley Lane-Poole. London, 1896.

Al-Asad, Mohammad, "The Mosque of Muhammad `Ali in Cairo," Muqarnas 9 (1992): 39-55.

Asfour, Khaled, "The Domestication of Knowledge: Cairo at the Turn of the Century," Muqarnas 10 (1993): 125-37.

Al-Asad, Mohammad, "The Mosque of al-Rifa`i in Cairo," Muqarnas 10 (1993): 108-24.

Raymond, Andre. "Cairo," in The Modern Middle East. A. Hourani, P.

Khoury & M. Wilson (eds.), Berkeley, 1993. Pp. 311-37.

Meinecke, Michael, ed. Islamic Cairo: Architectural Conservation and Urban Development of the Historic Centre. (AARP, June 1980) pp. 8-46.

Ilbert, Robert, and Mercedes Volait, "Neo-Arabic Renaissance in Egypt, 1870-1930," Mimar 13 (1984): 26-34.

Volait, Mercedes. L'architecture moderne en Egypte et la revue al-`Imara, Cairo, 1988.

Caroline Williams, "Islamic Cairo: Endangered Legacy," Middle East Journal 39, 3 (1985): 231-246.

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