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Bab el-Futuh
Fatimid period, late 11th century
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In the late 11th century Vizier Badr al-Jamali had a
massive fortress laid out around the residence of al-Qahirah
(Cairo) for the Fatimid caliphs. An Armenian master
builder from Odessa familiar with the construction of
fortifications was engaged as architect. The Armenian
erected a mighty structure with rectangular bastions, 60
entrance gates, and rounded battlements along the entire
coping of the wall.
Although the city wall never had to withstand a siege,
only a part of it measuring 1968 ft (600 m) in length
has been preserved, along with three gatehouses: the Bab
el-Futuh (“Gate of Conquest”), and the Bab en-Nasr
(“Gate of Victory”), and the Bab Zuwaylah, which was
still in use as a place of public execution in the 19th
century.
The Bab al-Futuh consists of two massive round towers
and the gateway between them, with curved flying
buttresses and rounded battlements above. The guardrooms
also lay above the gateway passage, which is 16 ½ ft (5
m) wide and 20 ft (6.80 m) high, with its original
foundations 13 ft (4 m) below the present surface level.
The arcades beside the entrance are ornamented with a
frieze of radiating lines above the arches.
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