Mukattam
The “City of the Dead” at the foot of the Mokattam (above). Aerial photograph (1904) by Eduard Spelterini from a hot air balloon
The muqattam ( Arabic المقطّم, DMG al-Muqaṭṭam ) is a stone plateau in the southeast of the Egyptian capital Cairo , which extends from the Cairo Citadel in the north to Helwan in the south.
High quality limestone has been mined in the quarries near Tura since the Old Kingdom . At its foot lie the Manschiyyet Nasser district (the so-called "garbage city") and the Qarafa , the so-called " city of the dead ". The oldest surviving domed tombs ( qubbas ) from Fatimid times are located on Mokattam Hill .
In violent clashes between Copts and Muslims after a demonstration on March 8, 2011, ten people were killed and 110 injured in the Mokattam district. All victims died from gunshot wounds.
literature
- Doris Behrens-Abouseif: Article “ al-Muḳaṭṭam ” in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. VII, pp. 509a-511a.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Limestone for building pyramids ( Memento from July 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Deaths in violence between Christians and Muslims. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . March 9, 2011, accessed March 9, 2011 .
Coordinates: 30 ° 1 ′ N , 31 ° 18 ′ E