Facts about Wekalet El-Ghouri in Cairo

Al-Ghouri in 909 AH/ 1503 AD retains many of its architectural details thanks to the care of the Department of Conservation of Arab Antiquities in 1357 AH/ 1947 AD. The agency consists of five floors centered around a rectangular open courtyard surrounded on its four sides by halls. The northern facade is the main facade of the agency, with the main entrance, both the first and second floors were used as warehouses for the sale and storage of goods, and the upper floors contain independent housing used for the public and merchants. Its current address is "2 Mohammed Abdo Street branching from Al-Azhar Street".

building construction of, on the first floor, there are about 30 stands, and on the upper three floors, there are 29 houses. It is believed that the stands of the ground and first floors were used as warehouses for merchants, and it is also believed that most of the people of this agency were also merchants. 

This agency is part of the archaeological collection built by Sultan Al-Ghouri, consisting of the Al-Ghouri school, the Khanqah, the way, the book and the house, and the group ends with the Al-Ghouri archaeological agency, which is registered among the Islamic and Coptic Antiquities under number 64, and it is one of the few completed models for archaeological agencies, it consists of an open middle plate on which all the constituent units of the agency open and a direct door opens to it (as a commercial facility) the third forms the residential part, which is a group of villas consisting of Two floors between which there is a stolen floor, the lower part of the villas is serviced and the upper part is for housing.

The "Sultan Al-Ghouri collection", as one of the most important Islamic archaeological sites in Cairo, attracted the eyes of Orientalist painters, who visited Egypt in the 19th century, where they were fascinated by the splendor of its architectural design, which they translated in their paintings, most notably the painting of the street and Mosque of Al-Ghouri (1875) by the painter John Frederick Lewis, located in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The collection still stands tall on both sides of Al-Mu'izz Ladin Allah al-Fatimi Street, the largest open-air museum in the world, where tourists from different cultures and nationalities flock to enjoy its architecture and decorations during the day, and its cultural and artistic events in the evening. 

The collection includes a "dome, agency and mosque" along with their accessories "bath, seat, Way, book and Khanqah", each of which performs a function different from the others.

How to get there 

The components of the group are located in the Al-Azhar and ghuriya area in Islamic Cairo, an easily accessible place in the heart of Cairo, where the visitor can reach it in more than one way, including the Al-Azhar bridge cable and reaching its end to find yourself in front of it, and you can also take the subway to the threshold station, and from there take a taxi or public transport lines to the ghuriya area in a few minutes. 

The area is characterized by traffic, especially during daylight hours, but the traffic itself is part of the pleasure of the trip in this area, where the Egyptian Spirit meets with the fragrance of history and the originality of the past, which overlooks from the buildings of the group, along with many archaeological mosques, aqueducts, tekayas, in addition to schools and old shops, and also stand out among them popular cafes and dozens of street vendors in that spot, which make visitors inside a museum open to history and geography.

Al-Ghouri Dome

The dome had a historical value; it is one of the greatest architectural domes, according to historians, but it was not written for the Sultan to be buried under it.

The interior of the place is decorated with exquisite ornaments, the panels of inlaid marble flourish, and the mausoleum dome is distinguished by its magnificent mihrab. The dome is currently being used as an international beacon for the revival of Egyptian heritage art through the "Artistic Creativity Center in the dome of Al - Ghouri", affiliated to the Cultural Development Fund of the Egyptian Ministry of culture, where it embraces all forms of heritage (music - theater-plastic art), to revive the Egyptian artistic heritage in a new and advanced form that keeps pace with the language of the modern era. 

Tourists can visit the dome and get acquainted with these arts, and get to know the Egyptian creators, in continuous evenings and evenings organized by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, represented by the Cultural Development Fund, in cooperation with some cultural and artistic institutions, which are very popular. A group of Egyptian singers and musical, rhythmic and show bands, which express the different regions and cultures of Egypt, participate in the revival of these evenings and concerts, the most prominent of which is the "hearing band for religious singing", which preserves heritage by reviving ancient templates such as the art of performing gestures and rare maqams with a contemporary vision. 

The dome also hosts performances of spiritual music and Sufi dance ensembles, and folk ensembles such as the Egyptian folk instruments team, which includes the most skilled Egyptian musicians in playing folk musical instruments, and there are also concerts for Nubian drum ensembles, which present the ancient Nubian Heritage to preserve the lyrical and rhythmic heritage that originated from the Nile River, as well as heritage performances and dance tableaux presented by the National Folk Arts Ensemble. The Ghouri dome also hosts some performances of Egyptian art festivals, including the International Festival of Drums and Heritage Arts, which is held annually under the slogan "dialogue of drums for peace". 

The "Center for artistic creativity in Al-Ghouri dome" also includes the Al-Ghouri school for the study of Arabic calligraphy, which aims to revive this authentic art. About a year ago, the performances of the Tanura heritage troupe moved to the dome, which presents its famous performances every Saturday and Wednesday of every week, which attract dozens of Arab and foreign tourists to it throughout the year in large numbers, to enjoy artistic performances that rely on demonstrating the dancer's skills in using and shaping skirts and his physical fitness with the use of musical sentences and a varied fast rhythm through folk musical instruments (Rababa oboe - Sajat – tabla). The performances of the Tanura troupe begin at 7.30 pm Cairo time, and the audience is admitted an hour before the performance. 

Al Ghouri agency

 A few steps from the dome and near the Al-Azhar mosque, there is the Al-Ghouri agency, established by Sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh Al-Ghouri in 909 1503 AD, which was used as a Trade Center, where Egyptian merchants and visitors from other countries converged. 

The agency consists of five floors, with a rectangular open courtyard in the middle, where the five floors wrap around the courtyard, and both the first and second floors are used as warehouses for the sale and storage of goods, and the upper floors contain independent housing for merchants ' dormitories. Al-Ghouri agency is a model of what commercial agencies were like in that era, and the agency retains many of its architectural details thanks to the care of the committee for the preservation of Arab antiquities in 1357 Ah - 1947 ad, and fortunately a large part of it remained, which helped to restore, repair and return it to its original state. 

Since the end of 2000, the agency entered into a five-year restoration project, and in 2005, Al-Ghouri agency opened its doors again as an archaeological site and as a cultural center, the Al-Ghouri agency Center for Heritage Arts, which works for cultural and human development in the Islamic Cairo area, through the provision of Cultural Services. 

The center was distinguished by hosting the performances of the Heritage band Tanura, but the circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic stopped those performances inside the agency, and to were transferred to its neighbor, the Ghouri Dome. One of the cultural services within the agency is the "ceremony" of plastic artists, in which they create their paintings inspired by the heritage atmosphere that envelops the place. 

Sultan Al-Ghouri mosque and school 

The mosque and the madrasa were erected on the West Bank of Al-Mu'izz street, with the prevailing layout from the fifteenth century, where it is characterized by four hanging iwans centered on a covered hall, while the minaret has a distinctive character, as it is unique in that it is in the form of a censer topped with 5 heads on top. The mosque is distinguished by a high entrance from the road, the ascent to it is carried out by ladder steps; this style of mosque is called "Hanging mosques". A visitor to the place can get acquainted with a unique model of Circassian architecture because of the many delicate floral ornaments in the mosque.