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Secondary sourcePhotograph29 April 2017

View over Qarafat Bab al-Wazir to Cairo Citadel

H. Hakan Atik · 29 April 2017

A modern photograph looking over a Cairo cemetery district to the Citadel that Saladin founded.

Shows the Citadel of Cairo, the fortress Saladin founded, rising above the modern city.

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Wide view over a dense, flat-roofed cityscape of low tan buildings and domed tombs in Cairo, with a hazy sky. In the background, the Citadel's mosque with a large dome and tall minarets rises on a hill, with a rocky slope at left.
Looking over Qarafat Bab al-Wazir to Cairo Citadel. Photograph by H. Hakan Atik, 2017.

About this source

What it is

This 2017 photograph looks across the Qarafat Bab al-Wazir area of Cairo toward the Citadel, the fortress founded by Saladin, visible on a hill with its large mosque dome and minarets.

Why it matters

The Citadel has dominated Cairo's skyline since Saladin had it built, and this photo shows how it still rises above the dense city today. It helps students picture the scale and position of Saladin's fortress within Cairo.

Look closer

  • What can you learn about the Citadel's location and importance just from where it sits in this photo?
  • How does the modern cityscape around it compare with what might have surrounded it in Saladin's time?
  • Why do you think a ruler would build a fortress on a hill like this?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Saladin on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Bronze dirham coin, obverse, showing a seated figure facing forward, cross-legged, with a rounded face and hands resting on knees, flanked by a high-backed throne. Arabic inscriptions in circular margin around the edge.Artifact

Primary source

Dirham of Saladin

AH 586 (AD 1190-91)

Engraving of a mounted figure in a tunic on a pale horse, with a banner-carrying rider behind him and a scroll above reading a proclamation. Soldiers with spears and a tent camp appear on the left, and a walled town on a hill behind. Caption below in print reads that Saladin caused it to be proclaimed that he carried nothing with him to the grave but a shirt.Painting

Secondary source

Saladin Proclaims He Will Take Only a Shirt to His Grave

John Payne · 1639

Exterior of the Saladin Citadel in Cairo at golden hour: thick tan stone walls with round towers and crenellated battlements, with the domed mosque and two slender minarets rising behind on the hilltop. A modern city street with trees and lamp posts lies to the right.Artifact

Primary source

Cairo Citadel

Saladin · begun 1176

Sepia photograph of the Tomb of Saladin in Damascus. A large stone arch spans the left, behind a domed structure with arched windows and a striped-arch window. Ruined walls, a rubble courtyard, and a few people near a ladder stand in front. The caption reads 791 Tombeau de Saladin Damas, with the name Bonfils.Photograph

Secondary source

Tomb of Saladin, Damascus

Medieval manuscript illumination of mounted knights in combat on a grassy field with red-dotted ground. Riders with lances and shields charge; one rider labeled Saladin and another labeled Guy. Red and black Latin text fills the page above.Painting

Secondary source

Saladin Seizing the True Cross from Guy of Lusignan

Matthew Paris

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