The Art And Architecture of Islamic Cairo

Bab al-Futuh, like Bal al-Nasr, is built of solid masonry to two-
thirds of the way up, and is flanked by massive double-storeyed
towers with bulging semi-circular façades. The surface of the lower
storey is indented by round-arched recessed panels on the front
and at each side. The inner arches, flanking the gate, are decorated
with cushion voussoirs, a feature which appears more commonly
in later Islamic and Crusader architecture (they can be seen in the
portal of al-Zahir Baibar’s mosque and in the façade of the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem). On the upper storey of each
tower the surface is broken on three sides (except the left-hand side
of the left tower) with recessed rectangular panels containing arrow
slits set in round-arched panels. A moulding of parallel lines and
loops frames and links the rectangular panels, and the towers are
crested with round-headed crenellation. The interior structure of
the gate is the reverse of Bab al-Nasr. Here, a short barrel-vault
joins the main entrance to the inner bay which is roofed by a
dome on pendentives, and the long upper tower chambers are
roofed by cross-vaults crowned with medallions. Bab al-Nasr and
Bab al-Futuh, with their connecting walls, form a magnificent
architectural ensemble which also incorporates al-Hakim’s mosque
with its battered corner tower rising like a huge pylon to support
the shaft of its richly faceted minaret. It is a breathtaking monumental
massing of cubic, semi-circular and cylindrical form, and
this simple combination of geometrical forms continues at various
intervals along Salah al-Din’s walls to the west.
Bab Zuwaila (1091–2), to the south of al-Qahira, has large semicircular
towers, like Bab al-Futuh. It supports two of the finest
Mamluk minarets in Cairo (1420), which serve the mosque of Sultan
Mu’ayyad located next door. Like the other gates, its towers are built
to two-thirds of their height with solid masonry, and the smooth
stonework of the curved façades is relieved only by arrow slits and
a moulding which defines a shallow vertical panel crowned with a
pointed arch. The inside flanks of the towers contain recessed
panels with lobed arches in the Moorish style – the earliest examples
of this type in Cairo. Between the two towers is a semi-circular gate
supporting a gallery, and above this a connecting open semi-circular
arch that forms a thick-set barrel-vault. It is thought that the gallery
once accommodated musicians who accompanied ceremonial
processions as they passed through the gate. 5 The vestibule inside the
gate was originally flanked by two semi-circular niches but the one on
the east was altered by Mu’ayyad. The whole interior space is covered
with a shallow dome set on pendentives in the Byzantine style.
below: Bab al-Futuh.
bottom: Bab Zuwaila.
Fatimid Architecture 49