Cairo's City of the Dead

Stretching for kilometres below the Mokattam hills, Cairo's City of the Dead, or al-Qarafa, is a vast Islamic necropolis where the boundary between the living and the dead has blurred for centuries. Among the domed mausoleums and family tomb enclosures, thousands of people live, some as caretakers, others simply priced out of the crowded city, turning burial grounds into makeshift neighbourhoods with shops, schools and electricity.

Beyond the human story, the area holds genuine architectural treasures, including magnificent Mamluk-era funerary complexes with soaring stone domes carved in dazzling geometric patterns. It is one of Cairo's most atmospheric and misunderstood quarters, a place of quiet dignity rather than morbidity, and a window onto the city's medieval greatness away from the tourist crush.