City Of The Dead

Photos taken from the Bus Window as we drove Past The City of the Dead

The City of the Dead, refers to the vast cemeteries on the outskirts of Cairo and was originally the burial place chosen by former rulers of Cairo and is filled with the graves of Fatimids, Abbasids, Ayyubids, Mamlukes, Ottomans. The area also houses some 5 million plus poor urban Egyptians and other immigrants who inhabit the area out of necessity, due to a huge housing shortage problem in Cairo.

The Egyptians don't see the cemeteries as exclusively for the dead. They see them as a place where life begins, a bit like in the time of the Pharoahs. The cemeteries built in the City of the Dead are quite different to from western cemeteries. Traditionally, Egyptians buried their dead in room or small house like “burial sites” the mourning family actually lived in them during the long mourning period of forty days.

It is not a romantic place to live, but one with poor sanitaion, garbage smells and little electricity, but the homeless have adapted the house like tombs to their needs are are content to have a roof over their heads.

We did not visit the City of the dead, but drove past it and learnt a small bit of its history from Ayman our guide.

If I ever go back to Egypt I would like to actually wander through the City of the Dead. It contains so much history.

If you click on the photos they should open into bigger ones so it is easier to see the detail.