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CHAPTER XVIII
The Citadel of Cairo
Citadel of Cairo was constructed by the order of
Saladin, the chivah'ous foe of our Richard Coeur de
Lion in the Crusades, whose exploits are immortalised in
"The Talisman." It was begun in 1166, and its materials
were stripped from the smaller pyramids of Gizeh. If stones
could see, their eyes would rest on the place from which they
were torn, for the Citadel is the eastern horizon from the
Pyramids, and the Pyramids sit enthroned on the western
horizon from the Citadel.
Within the Citadel, on the site of Mehemet Ali's palace
and mosque, rose the stately palace of Saladin, Joseph's Hall,
which was blown up in 1824 to make room for the buildings
which occupy its place. One cannot say unworthily, because,
in spite of all its faults, it is the mosque of Mehemet All
which confers on the Citadel of Cairo the fairy grace of the
sky-line of Stamboul.
The Citadel of Cairo is one of the most imposing objects
in my memory. The mosque is only the culmination of a
mighty mass of masonry formed by the ramparts, and the
two great round towers of Saladin, and the Bab-el-Azab, and
the majestic double flight of steps which connect this gate
with the Meidan Rumeleh.
It was the closing of the Bab-el-Azab which was the signal
for the massacre of the Mamelukes, one of the massacres
which made history like the Sicilian Vespers, for it was the
annihilating of those turbulent Beys which made the strong
rule of Mehemet Ali possible.
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