ABOUT THE PROJECT
A first outcome is a thorough documentation of this monument zone, both of the architecture of its monuments and the surrounding urban fabric and a historical study of its development through time.
URBAN SURVEY
The current relationship of the cemetery of Sayyidi Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti to the city is a paradox. It lies at the convergence of Cairo's two main highways and immediately south of one of Cairo's busiest transportation nodes. Its domes and minarets are visible, yet it is extremely difficult to enter because its access points are hidden. The contrast between the serenity of its inner spaces and the visual and auditory noise of the commercial and residential structures on its peripheries adds to the paradox. How did this come about?
MONUMENTS
The currently extant remains of five Mamluk funerary complexes – the turbas of al-Sawabi, al-Qarafi, Qusun, al-Sultaniyya and Sudun - are the result of a building frenzy in this area that started during the reign of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad and culminated in the construction of at least 15 funerary turbas belonging to prominent Mamluk amirs. While interest dwindled in the Ottoman period, the northern periphery still has the mosque of Masih Pasha, a curious historical footnote illuminating the relationship between political power and religious influence. One last Ottoman monument, Mustafa Agha Jaliq is a small canopy tomb with a wealth of archival documentation behind it.
SHRINES
With the exception of the shrine of the Mamluk scholar Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti after whom the cemetery is named, this cemetery's shrines house mostly obscure, and often forgotten religious figures. They are extremely fluid both physically as markers and conceptually as narratives and myths. Thus the shrine of Rayhan (whose origins are now obscure) is re-identified as the shrine of Sana wa Thana by a scholar in the 1990s only to have all physical signs of identification eradicated by the caretaker. We even have a shrine that was moved from the banks of the Nile to here . The most popular of the shrines marks the grave of a 20th century Rifa'i sufi called 'Abata (literally "idiocy").
FUNERARY
This cemetery contains a mix of two kinds of funerary markers; tarkibas (cenotaphs) and hawshs (funerary enclosures). Cenotaphs range from simple mastabas to elaborate constructions in carved and coloured marble. Hawshs can contain, in addition to burial yards, living quarters for overnight stay, that in a few cases are gradually converted into apartments for permanent dwelling by the cemetery residents, or they can be basic walled enclosures that are open to the sky. In both cases, they accommodate elaborate rites of burial and visitation that are still practiced to this day.
SECULAR
The northern section of the cemetery as well as its western border Street are both busy commercial strips with the northern section's shops topped by residential multi-storeys. Some of the hawshs inside the cemetery contain spaces that service these commercial activities, while others simply serve as residences. The turabis (cemetery caretakers) could also live in purely residential homes that are legal structures with street numbers. The cemetery residents form a tight-knit community with a clear structure and their livelihood is derived both from burial activities and related construction and contracting works and from the peripheral commercial activities.Gallery
