MK's Travels: City of the Dead

Today we got up semi-early and headed to the City of the Dead. While it sounds like quite the scary place, it really isn’t.

The City of the Dead: all of these "houses" are actually tombs

It is a four mile-long set of cemeteries located on the eastern side of Cairo. It is also home to nearly a million people, many of whom were forced from crowded ghettos in Cairo.

For many who live in Cairo, the City of the Dead is a mysterious, foreboding area. Many are aware of its existence but few understand this group of vast cemeteries that stretches out along the base of the Moqattam Hills.

Among these cemeteries lives a community of Egypt’s urban poor, forming an illegal but tolerated, separate society. From the Salah Salem Highway, the City of the Dead appears to be organized and proper, a match for the beige, sandy landscape of the distant Citadel. Inside, however these cemeteries bear witness to the centuries of Cairo’s history.

The historic belief in Egypt is that the cemeteries are an active part of the community and not exclusively for the dead. In modern times, because of Egypt’s housing crisis, a lack of satisfactory and affordable housing for a rapidly growing population, many poor Egyptians have made these rooms their permanent homes. The cemeteries built in the City of the Dead are much different than the western idea of cemeteries. This is because traditionally, Egyptians buried their dead in room-like “burial sites” so they could live in them during the long mourning period of forty days.

These residents of the City of the Dead have adapted the rooms to meet their needs. They have used the grave markers as desks, and shelves. They have hung strings between gravestones for their laundry to dry out. They have brought in the electricity by wires over the roofs coming from the nearby mosque to be able to be able to live properly.

The City of the Dead seems to its inhabitants quite ideal because it is already built, affordable, and partially equipped. However there are many disadvantages of living there. The rooms are also filled with the overwhelming smell of the garbage piled outside their doors and sewage leaking out of the un-drained tanks. After only being there for a few hours, I wondered how these people could really live normal lives.

Today, the population of the City of the Dead is growing rapidly because of rural migration and it’s a complicated housing crisis that is getting worse. I really don’t know how they’ll ever fix it.
Both Kate’s guidebook and mine warned us that the City of the Dead was a tough place. It said we should wear headscarves and make sure to be very nice. Naturally, after reading all these things, we walked on eggshells when we got there. However, we quickly found out it wasn’t necessary to be scared at all- the people in the City of the Dead are kind and open.

They welcome you at every turn. They gave us tours of their beautiful mosques and made sure we got all the pictures we wanted. This is very unlike the rest of Cairo. The most shocking thing in all of the City of the Dead were the women… they smiled. Yes, they smiled. And said hello. And waved. And they looked truly happy to see us. This is VERY unlike the rest of Egypt, where women who don’t wear the veil are disrespected.

Windows in a fantastic mosque in City of the Dead

I will go as far as to say some women in Cairo give me the evil eye. But the women here in this neighborhood came to say hello and had genuine smiles and such a kind way about them. Kate and I were stunned. Although the guidebooks said this was one of the scariest places in Cairo, I totally, wholeheartedly, disagree. The City of the Dead is, by far, one of the best places in Cairo. The people may not have much, but they have a fantastic community filled with loving homes and parents, and honestly, isn’t that the most important thing?

A glassblower's store (yes mom, perhaps one of your gifts is from here...)

The future of the City of the Dead remains uncertain. The residents of the city will not deliberately agree to relocate unless the government provides other housing for them.

We spent a bit more time there and then went to get some Egyptian pancakes before Nic and Kate had to run to class. I grabbed a cab back to the apartment, did some laundry, watched several fights over fender benders on the deck, enjoyed the sunset, uploaded my pictures, and wrote about my experiences here in Cairo. What a good day!

A biker carries bread on a crate- I have no idea how they balance the break, bike, and avoid all the crazy traffic!