BAB EN NASR, OR GATE OF VICTORY, AND MOSQUE OF EL HAKIM, CAIRO



THE massive square towers which flank the portal of this entrance to the city have neither appearance of the ancient propyla, nor the fantastic character of Arab construction. It was built towards the end of the eleventh century, during the caliphate of El Mutansir, by his Vizier Bedr el Gemálee, who gave his name to the Gemáleeyah, - the street which leads from this gate to the two Fatimite palaces.

There is a grandeur and simplicity in the broad and massive character of the whole structure; and except a band like a cornice carried round the towers, twenty feet below their square summits, and some trophy-like ornaments in shields, it is without decoration or enrichment. A Kufic inscription may be read beneath the archivolt: - "There is no Deity but God; He is alone; He has no equal. Mohammed is the apostle of God. Alee is the friend of God. May the peace of God be on them!"

This gate is on the north-east side of Cairo, and leads into the public cemetery from the city, and towards Suez. In the distance a striking object in this sketch appears, - the minaret of the ruined mosque of El Hákim situated without the walls of Cairo.




Roberts’s Journal.