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Cairo


The heart of Egypt for more than 1000 years, Cairo demonstrates the dichotomy of all things Egyptian. It's in Cairo where the medieval world and the contemporary western world come together in a confusion of earthen houses and towering modern office buildings, of flashy cars and donkey-drawn carts. Nobody really knows how many people live in Cairo, but estimates put it at about 16 million, and the city's many squatter camps and slums alone accommodate around 5 million people. Housing shortages are terrible and the traffic is appalling, but the government has begun a campaign to ease these pressures, opening an underground metro system and constructing satellite suburbs.

The Pyramids

Egyptian Musium

The Pyramids of Giza and the Great Sphinx are Egypt's most visited monuments, ranking among the world's greatest tourist attractions. The Great Pyramid of Cheops is the only surviving “Wonder of the Ancient World”. For centuries the great pyramids have intrigued and puzzled visitors, and even in the 20th century it is difficult to stand before them and not be overwhelmed. For 4 1/2 millennia, surviving the rise and fall of great dynasties, and outlasting Egypt's many conquerors, they have shared the desert plateau of Giza with other monuments: smaller attendant pyramids, some for royal wives; rows of mastabas, the tombs of 4th and 5th dynasty princes and nobles; and the imposing figure of the enigmatic sphinx. Also located at the pyramids is the impressive Solar Boat Museum.

Egyptian Museum

Egyptian Musium

The Egyptian Museum was built in 1897 and finished in 1901, in the neo-classical style by the French architect Marcel Dourgnon and it is home to the most extensive collection of pharaonic antiquities in the world. It has 136,000 items on display, with many more hundreds of thousands in its basement storerooms.

Islamic Cairo and Citadel

Egyptian Musium

Islamic Cairo is a very old area, surrounded by walls dating from the middle-ages, and was once the cultural, religious and intellectual center of the entire Arab world. Monumental buildings, palaces, many famous mosques and religious schools, numerous markets and the oldest university in the world (Al-Azhar) still stand witness to a glorious past.

Coptic Cairo

Egyptian Musium

Old (Coptic) Cairo (Masr al-Qadima), The oldest part of Cairo, and predates what is now modern Cairo. It is believed that there was a settlement here as early as the 6th century BC. Later, the Romans built a fortress here which we know today as "Babylon", some of these roman walls still exist today, The area consists of the Coptic museum and also contains gardens and courtyards and the area is surrounded by old Coptic churches.