THE MINARETS AT THE BAB ZUWEYLEH, AND ENTRANCE 
TO THE MOSQUE OF THE METWALIS, CAIRO. 
This gate was built in the reign of the Caliph El-Mutansir, about the year 1092, 
of the Hegira 485. It stands between the fine minarets of the mosque of Gama 
El-Mu-eiyad, called also the mosque of Bab Zuweyleli, and of the Metwalis; the 
latter name derived from a devout saint, or Wellee, who is supposed mysteriously 
to visit the spot, and from which it has acquired its most popular name. To the 
above Caliph, Cairo owes others of its present gates, for the Bab en Nasr and Bab 
el Futooh were built by him. The original gate of Bab Zuweyleli, which, like those 
above mentioned, was built by Gohar, the general of El Moez, was removed from the 
original site which he chose, and erected on the present, by El-Guyoosh, the vizier 
of the Caliph El-Mutansir. 
The difficulty of obtaining accurate information about the founders and the periods 
of foundation of many of the public buildings, particularly the mosques of Cairo, 
is increased by the confusion in which the Arabian authors have either left their 
records, or in their contradiction of each other. Ibn Abd-ez-Zahir says the gate 
was built by Aboo-Mansoor, son of El Moez, the founder of Cairo, and completed 
by the Emir El-Guyoosh. The adjoining mosque was built by the Sheik El-Mahmoodee, 
who removed the towers of the gate, and built the two beautiful minarets which 
flanked it, a.d. 1414, three hundred and fifty years after the gate was erected. The 
mosque is seen on the right of our view, where the steps lead to the principal entrance, 
and lamps are suspended from the beam which hangs in front of the portal. 
The direction of the main street appears to have controlled the geographical 
position of the mosque, for neither of its sides is in the direction of Mecca. Upon 
its faqade, seen in the vignette of the gate, the date of its erection is recorded, together 
with the names of the Caliph El-Mutansir and the Emir El-Guyoosh. Formerly 
a rope remained suspended beneath the archway, by which Toman Bey, the last 
Memlook sovereign, was hung, in 1517, by order of the Turkish Sultan Selim, 
after having endured the severest insults and tortures. Close to the gate was the 
place of public execution of malefactors, and their headless bodies were often left 
on the ground in the street exposed for two or three days. 
The rude construction of the balconies to the windows and houses, and the awnings 
and sheds over the shops, and the raised floors on which the dealers sit, are in 
striking contrast with the massive walls of the mosque and the beautiful forms of 
the minarets. These are of the enriched and decorated style so peculiar to Arabian 
architecture. 
