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mystery

Mysterious places in Cairo

Cairo layers millennia on top of one another, and nowhere is that more tangible than at its most enigmatic sites. At Saqqara, the Buried Pyramid, the Layer Pyramid, and the Mastabat al-Firaun stand as riddles in stone, while the Bubasteion conceals rock-cut chambers carved deep into the plateau. The Pyramid of Khendjer speaks of a dynasty few can name. Within the city itself, the Ben Ezra Synagogue and the Blue Mosque stand alongside the neo-Hindu Baron Empain Palace and the Basilica of St Therese of the Child Jesus — and the buried traces of El-Fustat remind visitors that much of Cairo's story still lies beneath the surface.

10 places · Cairo, Egypt · Editorially curated

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  • El-Fustat
    Wikimedia Commons

    El-Fustat

    Cairo

    historyknowledge

    Fustat was Egypt's first Islamic capital, founded in 641 AD following the Arab conquest of the country. The Arab general Amr ibn al-As established a camp here that grew into the first planned Islamic city in North Africa. Until the founding of Cairo in 969, Fustat served as the administrative and commercial center of the country. The city was burned by its own inhabitants in 1168 to prevent the Crusaders from taking it. Today, the ruins of Fustat are accessible in southern Cairo as an archaeological site, surrounded by what is known as Coptic Cairo with its early churches and the Coptic Museum.

  • Mastabat al-Firaun
    Wikimedia Commons

    Mastabat al-Firaun

    Cairo

    historyknowledge

    The Mastabat al-Firaun – Arabic for Bench of the Pharaoh – is the funerary monument of ancient Egyptian king Shepseskaf, the last contemporaneously documented ruler of the 4th Dynasty (c. 2510 BC). It lies in South Saqqara, between the Step Pyramid of Djoser and the pyramids of Sneferu at Dahshur. Remarkably, Shepseskaf chose a different form from his predecessors: not a pyramid but a massive rectangular mastaba with rounded ends. Why he preferred this shape remains a subject of scholarly debate. The monument is a rewarding, less crowded alternative to the famous pyramids for those interested in Egyptology.

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