Cairo : Histories of a City

From its earliest days as a royal settlement fronting the pyramids of Giza to its current manifestation as the largest metropolis in Africa, Cairo has forever captured the urban pulse of the Middle East. In Cairo: Histories of a City, Nezar AlSayyad narrates the many Cairos that have existed throughout time, offering a panoramic view of the city’s history unmatched in temporal and geographic scope, through an in-depth examination of its architecture and urban form.In twelve vignettes, accompanied by drawings, photographs, and maps, AlSayyad details the shifts in Cairo’s built environment through stories of important figures who marked the cityscape with their personal ambitions and their political ideologies. The city is visually reconstructed and brought to life not only as a physical fabric but also as a social and political order—a city built within, upon, and over, resulting in a present-day richly layered urban environment. Each chapter attempts to capture a defining moment in the life trajectory of a city loved for all of its evocations and contradictions. Throughout, AlSayyad illuminates not only the spaces that make up Cairo but also the figures that shaped them, including its chroniclers, from Herodotus to Mahfouz, who recorded the deeds of great and ordinary Cairenes alike. He pays particular attention to how the imperatives of Egypt's various rulers and regimes—from the pharaohs to Sadat and beyond—have inscribed themselves in the city that residents navigate today. (20110321) From its earliest days as a royal settlement fronting the pyramids of Giza to its current manifestation as the largest metropolis in Africa, Cairo has forever captured the urban pulse of the Middle East. In Histories of a City, Nezar AlSayyad narrates the many Cairos that have existed throughout time, offering a panoramic view of the citys history unmatched in temporal and geographic scope, through an in-depth examination of its architecture and urban form. In twelve vignettes, accompanied by drawings, photographs, and maps, AlSayyad details the shifts in Cairos built environment through stories of important figures who marked the cityscape with their personal ambitions and their political ideologies. The city is visually reconstructed and brought to life not only as a physical fabric but also as a social and political ordera city built within, upon, and over, resulting in a present-day richly layered urban environment. Each chapter attempts to capture a defining moment in the life trajectory of a city loved for all of its evocations and contradictions. Throughout, AlSayyad illuminates not only the spaces that make up Cairo but also the figures that shaped them, including its chroniclers, from Herodotus to Mahfouz, who recorded the deeds of great and ordinary Cairenes alike. He pays particular attention to how the imperatives of Egypt's various rulers and regimesfrom the pharaohs to Sadat and beyondhave inscribed themselves in the city that residents navigate today. From its earliest days as a royal settlement fronting the pyramidsof Giza to its current manifestation as the largest metropolis inAfrica, Cairo has forever captured the urban pulse of the MiddleEast. In Cairo: Histories of a City, Nezar AlSayyadnarrates the many Cairos that have existed throughout time,offering a panoramic view of the city's history unmatched intemporal and geographic scope, through an in-depth examination ofits architecture and urban form. In twelve vignettes, accompaniedby drawings, photographs, and maps, AlSayyad details the shifts inCairo's built environment through stories of important figures whomarked the cityscape with their personal ambitions and theirpolitical ideologies. The city is visually reconstructed andbrought to life not only as a physical fabric but also as a socialand political order-a city built within, upon, and over, resultingin a present-day richly layered urban environment. Each chapterattempts to capture a defining moment in the life trajectory of acity loved for all of its evocations and contradictions.Throughout, AlSayyad illuminates not only the spaces that make upCairo but also the figures that shaped them, including itschroniclers, from Herodotus to Mahfouz, who recorded the deeds ofgreat and ordinary Cairenes alike. He pays particular attention tohow the imperatives of Egypt's various rulers and regimes-from thepharaohs to Sadat and beyond-have inscribed themselves in the citythat residents navigate today Preamble : reading and writing Cairo -- Memphis : the first Cairo -- From ancient Egypt to the Coptic enclave -- Fustat-Misr : the city of Arab Islam -- Al-Qahira : a Fatimid palatial town -- Fortress Cairo : from Salah Al-Din to the Pearl Tree -- The Bahri Mamluks : the city of the slave sultans -- Governing from the tower : the Burji Mamluks -- A provincial capital under Ottoman rule -- A changing city : from Napoleon to Muhammad Ali -- Modernizing the new, medievalizing the old : the city of the Khedive -- The Arab republic and the city of Nasser -- Escaping the present, consuming the past. Nezar AlSayyad narrates the many Cairos that have existed through time, offering a panorama unmatched in temporal and geographic scope, through an in-depth examination of the city's architecture and urban form. His narration illuminates how there can be "no one history of the city, but rather multiple, contested, and often invented histories."