Al-Ahram Weekly takes stock of two major attractions soon to be renovated Bab Al-Azab is the great lower gate of the Salaheddin Al-Ayoubi's Citadel, which looks out over the Sultan Hassan School and Al-Refaai Mosque. Prince Radwan Kathuda Al-Galfi, commander of the Al-Azab corps, had the gate rebuilt in 1754; and the new construction occupies the same spot as its Mameluke predecessor. Executed in the same architectural style as the citadel's other two gates, Bab Al-Futuh and Bab Zuweila, Bab Al-Azab nonetheless remains one of the largest and most beautiful Islamic monuments in Egypt. Out of the two rectangular towers that contain the structure, hot oil was once poured on invaders. It was the main entrance to the southern enclosure of Bab Al-Futuh, gateway to Cairo; and when Khedive Abbas Helmi II extended Remeila Square, he thought it worthy of restoration and embellishment -- hence its Gothic elements and the external double staircase. Abdallah El-Attar, SCA consultant to Coptic and Islamic monuments, explained that the name Bab Al-Azab "dates back to a time prior to the construction of the gate. When the Ottomans arrived in Egypt in 1517 they began referring to the lower enclosure of the citadel as Al-Azab, after the stables built by the Sultan Al-Nasser Mohamed Ibn Qalawun in 1311 to house the 4,800 horses in his possession started being used as a dormitory for an Ottoman regiment known as Al-Azab [literally "the bachelors"] -- they were not allowed to marry until they retired. Eventually, the French occupation changed the rules and members of the Al-Azab Regiment were not only allowed to marry, some were given permission to build houses within the fortress walls". By the mid-17th century, El-Attar went on, the citadel had already been turned into a residential district -- having shed its military designation -- with shops, public baths and commercial enterprises; it gave birth to a labyrinth of small streets. Yet perhaps Bab Al-Azab is best remembered as the site of the famous 19th-century massacre of the Mamelukes, carried out by Mohamed Ali Pasha and his loyal soldiers. Following his rise to power in 1805, Mohamed Ali wisely, if ruthlessly, crushed the most dangerous political force that could rival his authority and undermine his project -- by inviting the main characters to a banquet. Ostensibly in honour of his son Tusun, a great banquet was set out in the citadel's southern enclosure, and the gate was firmly locked after the last guest walked in; once seated, the unarmed Mameluke lords realised they were trapped. With a high wall preventing them from fleeing in the opposite direction, they were suddenly faced with a battalion of Albanian soldiers; and in one fell swoop the pasha brought their dominion in Egypt to an end. Today the gate is home to six major archaeological sites as well as a string of warehouses, one- storey buildings once used as soldiers dormitories and stables. Also to be restored is Al-Ablaq Palace, one of the Mameluke's most outstanding edifices, finished in black and yellow marble under the patronage of Sultan Al-Nasser Mohamed Ibn Qalawun, who in 1313 brought in the most skilled craftsmen from all over the world to share in executing this triumphal construction on the western side of the citadel. Only a few of the walls of the original structure remain, but its architectural excellence and the breathtaking variety of its designs are still in evidence.
