No. That’s Next Door

Things built in the Fourteenth Century nearly anywhere else in the world, would merit great consideration.   There nothing to be seen in North America from that vintage.  Nothing in Hong Kong.  Nothing in Shanghai.  London burned to the ground in 1666.  Not much to be seen of the High Middle Ages there.  In Cairo such “medieval” constructions are, seem almost contemporary, occupying the same metropolis as the 2800BC Giza Pyramids.  Today the agenda was for considering Islamic Cairo and I’m looking forward to seeing some medieval buildings.

I had a sales call for 10:00AM and I had no idea when I’d actually get my family out the door of our remarkable Airbnb.  But by 9:50 AM we’d made our way into the Uber and I was fiddling with my headphones and confirming with the driver that our destination was the Manial Palace.  “Hello, nice to connect.  Allow me to explain a bit about our company and what we do.”   Meanwhile the Uber driver’s GPS was blaring out instructions in Arabic.  The driver couldn’t really tell that I was on a call and so he would ask me questions assertively as I tried to engage productively with these businessmen in Italy.  We strolled about the remarkable interior of this 19^th Century interior while I nodded pleasantly to the guard and kept an eye on my daughter and generally asked questions about their ‘average-deal-size’ and ‘typical-sales-cycle,’ through the Bluetooth headset, into my phone.

The Lonely Planet with one deftly placed photo had sold me on needing to see the Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan.  By now I’d read about the Mamluks two or three times and could imagine them in contrast to the Crusaders of Europe and the Yuan Dynasty in Europe.  We walked into what I thought was the Mamluk construction, took offer our shoes, to ponder the tall solemnity.  Fortunately, an assertive gent insisted we see one room and then another and when I suggested this was the work of the Mamluk’s he said, “no” that’s next door.  Ahh, so this was the mosque of Ar Rifai, built around the time of the U.S. Civil War.  It’s still solemn, but I’m not as amazed at what they achieved in building these tall ceilings as I’d been when I imagined it older.

Across the road then was Sultan Hassan’s construction and yes, it was infinitely more evocative.  A medieval building remains a medieval building and even though it is only six hundred years old it is still the peer of Notre Dame and Il Domo de Firenze, and indeed the Forbidden City in Beijing and commands an appropriate measure of respect.  Infidels, we struggled a bit with what to do in a mosque-madrassa.  Shall we proceed to the dais?  Is it OK to just sit down here, or there?  Will there be a service?  Is it almost time for the call to prayer?

Hot and tired the Uber got lost and then cancelled.  The next Uber was the same Uber.  He came.  Off then, while there was still energy with our team, to the Islamic Museum.  This was very helpful for me to piece together Fatimid, Abuyid.  But the children faded quickly, and though there were at least five or six more Islamic ‘medieval’ buildings to consider, it was clear that it was time for lunch and then time for home.

Thursday, 07/04/19