Cairo Things to Do Tips by akram_guirgu

If the Pyramids of Giza are the most famous landmark in the world, then the Sphinx is the most famous fictional animal. A lion's body with a man's head, the mythical creature was the symbol of fear and awesome power in ancient Egypt. Its name has been interpreted as, 'The Wonderful One', 'The Terrible One', 'The Father of Terror', 'The Living Statue', and 'Horus of the Horizon.' Egyptian tradition holds that the face of the Sphinx is the image of Khafre (Chephren). But archæologists believe it does not represent the form of a great leader. Rather, it is a mythical creature whose job is to guard the bodies of the dead in the cemeteries surrounding the Giza pyramid complex. This theory is supported in part because it was built more than 2,600 years before Khafre's rule. Unlike the nearby pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx was carved largely from a natural limestone outcropping by a civilization that has long since vanished. It is 190 feet long, and 66 feet tall. On many picture postcards, the Sphinx's paws seem to be too big. In fact, they are in proportion to the rest of the body, if you look at it from where it was intended to be seen -- the bottom of the valley below, where those who created the creature, and presumably worshipped it, would look up to see the statue watching over them. One thing the Sphinx illustrates very well is the shifting nature of its environment. It has been repeatedly covered up by the desert then revealed either through the efforts of man or the unpredictable forces of nature. Even the ancient Egyptians had to adapt, building an adjoining altar on top of another that had been swallowed by the sand. The ancient Greeks would come to this place and marvel at the half-man, half-beast resting in the desert. In fact, it was they who christened it the 'Sphinx,' naming it after a mythical winged creature in their own culture. Evidence of Greek life in the area can be found in a bit of ancient graffiti scratched into the paws of the Sphinx -- it is a poem of peace. Later, the Romans would build a stairway and a ramp over both altars after they had vanished under the sands of time. In 1816, a French expedition uncovered part of the limestone monster, but only managed to dig away at the rear portion because of the shifting sand. Then in 1925 yet another expedition managed to clear the front part of the Sphinx, revealing its true form. It was all these layers of buildings underneath the sand that has given rise to the myths of hidden chambers and buried treasures in the desert. Those rumors led to fortune-seekers burrowing into the monument. Since it was first uncovered, the Sphinx has been repeatedly patched and repaired over more than 3,000 years. In fact, the first recorded patch-up job was ordered by Pharaoh Tutmosis IV when he was just a prince about 1500bc. Some jobs were of a better quality than others. A restoration project started in 1990 and lasting seven years used more than 100,000 stones to restore the Sphinx's body, but the rising Nile water table continues to wreak havoc on the monument. It seems there are as many rumors surrounding what happened to the Sphinx's nose and beard than there are theories about who built it and why. One popular theory is that Napoleon's French solders shot it off because he considered it a threat to his power. Another version of this tale has Turkish soldiers joining in for target practice. A theory that rose in the early 1990's held that European conquerors who came to Egypt removed the nose to conceal that black Egyptians built the monument in their image. However, this theory has only gained acceptance in limited circles of power usually surrounding racists with a political agenda. It is further diminished by early records of the Sphinx's crumbling state that existed hundreds of years before Europeans trod on the sands of Giza. One of these older theories has a Muslim Fatmid personally taking an axe to the Sphinx between 969 and 1071 because he thought it was a symbol of a pagan religion. Another puts the loss of the nose at about 1300ad. There is one fact, however -- part of the Sphinx's beard was recovered from the sand during excavation and is now in the British Museum in London.

Leave a Comment

Address: Giza

Visit The Mohammed Ali Mosque at the citadel.
The Citadel is a huge fortress-like structure on the edge of Cairo that provides a great panoramic view of Cairo, built and enhanced for 700 years starting in 1100AD. The main tourist attraction is the huge Mosque de Mohammed Ali.

Leave a Comment

Go on top of Cairo Tower 'Borg El Gezirah'.
It is Over180 meters high , it is the most outstanding attraction of modern Cairo. The first of the top two storeys has a rotating restaurant and cafeteria. Visitors can enjoy a panoramic view of Cairo from the observation platform.

Leave a Comment

Address: City Center, Cairo, Egypt

Visit The Step Pyramid of Sakkara, Giza

The Step Pyramid of Zoser at Saqqara, south of Gîza, is Egypt's first pyramid. Zoser was the most famous ruler of Dynasty III (2700-2625 BC) and inaugurated the 'Age of the Pyramids'. Standing about 180 feet tall, it appears that the first pyramid was constructed as if building six mastabas on top of each other. Zoser's pyramid, however, was constructed of of limestone rather than the mud brick and wood of the mastabas, a great innovation. Imhotep, the architect, later became the god of medicine

Leave a Comment

Address: 20 km south of Cairo

Leave a Comment

Of course if you have come all the way to Cairo, Egypt then thnere is no better way of starting your visit but to visit the great pyramids of Giza.It cost about $10 L.E.for Non-Egyptians.

Leave a Comment

The Eyptian government established the 'Service des Antiques de l' Egypte' in 1835 mainly to halt the plundering of archaeological sites and to arrange the exhibition of the collected artifacts owned by the government. The Azbakiah garden in Cairo was first used as a storage place for these artifacts. The collection was later transferred to another building in the Citadel. In 1858, a museum was prepared at Boulaq, its contents collected by the French archeologist August Mariette. In 1880, the contents of the Boulaq museum were transferred to an annex of the Giza palace of Ismail Pasha, the ruler of Egypt.

Leave a Comment

Directions: Tahrir square 'Midan el tahrir'.It is enough if you ask about 'The Egyptian Museum'.

Visit 'The Hanging Church' 'Al Moallaka' Coptic Church in Old Cairo:

The picture of the map of the travels of the holy family comes from a famous Coptic Church called the 'Hanging Church.' The Hanging Church is one of a number of ancient Coptic churches located in the earliest sector of Cairo known today as Old Cairo.
The city grew up around a Roman fort called Babylon. The Hanging Church, in Arabic el-Muallaqa, is dedicated to St. Mary. It was given its name because the wooden floor of the late third century structure was constructed across the towers of the ancient Roman fortress. The church is filled with remarkable works of art but is endangered by the rising water and sewage table in Old Cairo. There are projects under review to preserve this important.

Leave a Comment

Directions: Old Cairo: Take the subway get off at 'Mari Girgis' stop.