Citadel of Salah El-Din

The construction of Salah El-Din Citadel begun in 1176 by order of the Sultan Salah El-Din, but Salah El-Din did not live in the Citadel because its construction was completed in 1182 during the ruling period of Al Malek El Kamel the ruler of Egypt who ruled after Salah El-Din. As Salah El-Din intended to build an impressive and huge citadel and fortress to protect him from his enemies he decided to make it’s building blocks from the stones of some small pyramids in Giza and in its construction he was inspired by the Syrian and Lebanese citadels because they were extremely fortified, due to that Its construction was very impressive and elegant. Inside the Citadel Salah El-Din had also constructed water wells to be used by his soldiers, the citadel has 4 gates ( El-Mokatam gate, the New Gate, the Middle Gate, and the Citadel gate ), and about 13 towers including ( El-Mokkatam tower, al-Karkialan tower, and Al-Turfa tower ), inside it there are also about 4 palaces amongst which are ( Palace Ablaq, Al-Gawhara Palace ), 4 Mosques ( Mosque of Muhammad Ali, Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque, Mosque of Sulayman Pasha, and Mosque of Al-‘Azab ) and 2 Museums, the National Police Museum, and National Military Museum ) both these museums are opened to) visitors, inside the National Police museum the visitor can see a lot of interesting objects like old police weapons, tools, and uniforms since this museum is a former prison. The visitor can see real cells where prisoners were kept in the past, and in the National military museum, the visitor can see historical cannons, tanks, and weapons, which have been used in remove real wars throughout history.