Creating Medieval Cairo: Empire, Religion, and Architectural Preservation in Nineteenth-Century Egypt

219 Pages·2007·29.691 MB·English

by  Paula Sanders

Creating Medieval Cairo

Creating Medieval Cairo
Empire, Religion, and Architectural
Preservation in Nineteenth-Century Egypt
Paula Sanders
The American University in Cairo Press
Copyright©2008by
TheAmericanUniversityinCairoPress
113ShariaKasrelAini,Cairo,Egypt
420FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10018
www.aucpress.com
Part of Chapter 1 appeared previously as “The Victorian Invention of Medieval
Cairo:ACaseStudyofMedievalismandtheConstructionoftheEast,”inMiddle
East Studies Association Bulletin 37, no. 2 (December 2003): 179–98. Part of
Chapter 4 appeared previously as “The Contest over Context: Fatimid Cairo in
theTwentiethCentury,”inIreneA.Bierman,ed.,TextandContextinIslamicSoci-
eties: Sixteenth Giorgio Levi Delia Vida Conference Papers (Reading, UK: Ithaca
Press,2003),131–54.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechani-
cal, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,withouttheprior written permission
ofthepublisher.
DarelKutubNo.3131/07
ISBN9789774160950
DarelKutubCataloging-in-PublicationData
Sanders,Paula
Creating Medieval Cairo: Empire, Religion, and Architectural Preserva-
tioninNineteenth-CenturyEgypt/PaulaSanders.—Cairo:TheAmericanUni-
versityinCairoPress,2008
p. cm.
ISBN9774160959
1.Egypt—history—19thcentury I.Title
962.03
1 2 3 4 5 6 12 11 10 09 08
DesignedbyAndreaEl-Akshar
PrintedinEgypt
ForMichael

Contents
Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xvii
Chapter1 ConstructingMedievalCairointheNineteenthCentury 1
Chapter2 IslamfortheModernWorld 45
Chapter3 CairooftheArabianNights 95
Chapter4 KeepingCairoMedieval 123
Conclusion 153
Epilogue 157
SelectBibliography 159
Index 175
Contents vii

Illustrations
Figure
Unlessotherwiseindicated,allillustrationsarefromtheauthor’scollection.
2.1 Mosque of Sayyida Zaynab. Postcard album, L(cid:1)evy Fils & cie, early
1900s.
2.2 F^etedutapissacr(cid:1)e.Postcard,Lichtenstern&Harari,CairoNo.19.
2.3 MaristanofQala’unandBeshtakPalaceshowingbadigeonover-painting.
JuliusFranz,Kairo,1903,p.51.
2.4 IbnTulunMosque.Bonfils,Ca.1870.
2.5 MosqueofMuhammad‘AliandBabal-Wazircemetery.Postcard,Lich-
tenstern&Harari,CairoNo.199.
2.6 SultanHasan(fourteenthcentury),left,andal-Rifa’i(nineteenth–twen-
tiethcentury)mosques.Postcardalbum,L(cid:1)evyFils&cie,n.d.
2.7 KhedivialLibrary(nowMuseumofIslamicArt).Postcard,ca.1903.
2.8 Selamlick, Exposition Universelle (cid:3)a Paris, 1867. Charles Edmond,
L’E(cid:1)gypte(cid:3)al’ExpositionUniversellede1867,pl.2.RareBooksandSpecial
Collections Library, the American University in Cairo. Photograph by
GeorgeFakhry.
2.9 Lord Curzon’s Lamp. © British Library Board. All rights reserved.
APACPhoto1007/11(1910).
2.10 DouglasSladen,OrientalCairo,1911,p.1.
2.11 NapoleoniccartinfrontofMamluktombs.
2.12 DouglasSladen,OrientalCairo,1911,facingp.28.
2.13 Sabil-kuttabof‘Abdal-RahmanKatkhudaintheSuqal-Nahhasin.Doug-
lasSladen,OrientalCairo,1911,facingp.4.
2.14 Reproduction of sabil-kuttab of ‘Abd al-Rahman Katkhuda at World’s
ColumbianExposition,1893.
2.15 Cairo‘medieval’skyline,1996.Author’sphotograph.
Illustrations ix