page_title: Cairo Citadel Aqueduct
section_title: The first Mamluk aqueduct under al-Nasir Muhammad
hierarchical_section_title: Cairo Citadel Aqueduct / History / The first Mamluk aqueduct under al-Nasir Muhammad
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Aquädukt, Alt-Kairo, Ägypten English: Aqueduct, Old Cairo, Egypt
context_page_description: The Cairo Citadel Aqueduct or Mamluk Aqueduct is a medieval aqueduct system in Cairo, Egypt. It was first conceived and built during the Ayyubid period but was later reworked by several Mamluk sultans to expand the provision of water to the Citadel of Cairo. Although no longer functioning today, much of the aqueduct structure, including its water intake tower, still stands.
context_section_description: During the Mamluk period, the Citadel was further developed by successive sultans into an even more elaborate complex, with more ambitious buildings. In particular, under Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad in the early 14th century the Citadel was expanded and several important palaces and monuments were built within and around it. In 1311 or 1312, al-Nasir Muhammad ordered the renovation and improvement of the Citadel's aqueduct. His predecessor and brother, Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil, was likely responsible for having already built the water intake tower but was likely killed before he could do more. Al-Nasir completed the project.
  The intake tower was located on the shore of the Nile in the area now known as Fumm al-Khalig, north of Fustat (or "Old Cairo" today) and further north than the Ayyubid-era wall and canal. The intake tower is hexagonal and featured four waterwheels (saaqiyyas) which raised water to the top of the tower, from where it flowed along a set of channels along the aqueduct. Along the way, al-Nasir built another tower with three more waterwheels raising the water to an even higher level, after which it continued to run along an aqueduct until it reached the foot of the citadel, at which point it was yet again raised by waterwheels in another tower. From this last tower the water then entered into the Citadel and into a reservoir known as the Bi'r al-Sa'b Sawaqi ("Well of the Seven Waterwheels"), inside the Citadel's Southern Enclosure (near the harem area) and southwest of the famous Spiral Well of Salah ad-Din. From this reservoir, water was distributed by an underground network to the rest of the buildings in the Citadel. The aqueduct itself consisted of a channel carried along the top of large stone piers and arches, which ran for about one-and-a-half kilometers due east before turning northeast, and after half a kilometer the aqueduct then joins the old canal which was constructed along the top of Salah ad-Din's city wall. This new system increased the amount of water brought to the Citadel, allowing al-Nasir Muhammad to carry out his major building projects in the Citadel, such as his mosque and the great palace known as the Qasr al-Ablaq ("Striped Palace").
caption: Arches of the Mamluk aqueduct.
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