Cairo's citadel, one of the Egyptian capital's most prominent landmarks, opened another wing housing two semi-circular towers to the public on Sunday, to expand the country's tourist attractions.
A view of the Al-Ramla and Al-Haddad towers after their renovation for re-opening to the public, that will increase visitors and numbers of visiting hours for Salah al-Din citadel, which was constructed under the Muslim military commander Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi around 1176 A.D, in Cairo, Egypt, February 18, 2024. Reuters/Sayed Sheashaa
Cairo's citadel, one of the Egyptian capital's most prominent landmarks, opened another wing housing two semi-circular towers to the public on Sunday, to expand the country's tourist attractions.
One of the world's biggest mediaeval citadels, the Citadel of Cairo dates back to about 1176 A.D. when construction began under the Muslim military commander Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi, who later went on to conquer Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187 A.D.
The fortress, also known as the Saladin Citadel and which towers over Cairo, was the base of Egypt's government for over 700 years.
The newly opened section was used until recently as a private events space and to house army and police barracks.
It includes the Ramla and Haddad (blacksmith) towers, built in the decades following Salah al-Din's death by his successors Sultan Al-Adil Al-Ayyubi and Sultan Al-Nasser Saladin Al-Ayyubi.
Tourism minister Ahmed Eissa said opening the additional section to the public was part of a broad plan to improve tourism in Egypt that will be formally announced next month.
"I'm being told by travel agencies that the citadel visit doesn't last more than an hour. Our plan in the coming months is to extend the time in which visitors tour the citadel from one hour to at least three," he told reporters.
"This is the first effort we're making to relaunch Cairo as a new cultural product which we will call 'Cairo City Break', with the details to be unveiled in the coming months," Eissa added.
Reporting by Sayed Sheasha
Egypt's total budget deficit fell to 505 billion Egyptian pounds ($10.5 billion) in fiscal 2023/24 that ended on June 30, compared with 610 billion pounds a year earlier, finance minister Ahmed Kouchouk said in a statement on Wednesday.
Egypt will halt load-shedding power cuts during the summer as of Sunday, after some natural gas shipments arrived, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Wednesday, in a bid to end a crisis that inconvenienced a population of 106 million.
When Ahmed Elgendy met Mohamed Salah in January, he was given a pep talk and posed for a picture with the Egyptian soccer star while wearing the modern pentathlon silver medal that he earned at the Tokyo Olympics.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.