CITADEL OF CAIRO, THE RESIDENCE OF THE PASHA. 
This striking view is taken from a ruined mosque near the city walls, and looking 
towards the rock of the Citadel, which stretches along the horizon, from where it 
intercepts the range of the distant Mocattam hills to the Great Mosque of the Sultan 
Hassan. Between the observer and the hill of the Citadel lies the great necropolis of 
Cairo, that part of the eastern desert which extends from its walls to the Mocattam 
range, in which the dead of ages are laid, and where those splendid religious edifices 
are found which are commonly called the Tombs of the Sultans. The ruined mosque in 
the foreground is built in an angle of the city wall. From one of the gates below a 
caravan is seen issuing, and masses of building which intervene between the ruined 
mosque and the Citadel are broken by the domes and minarets of the mosques of Cairo. 
The Citadel itself is covered with a range of buildings, that present in this view 
rather the appearance of a barracks than the palace and mosque of the Pasha, where 
he holds his court, though his domestic residence is in the Isle of Shoubra. 
The fortress of the Citadel is, however, very strong, and is erected upon a promon¬ 
tory or spur of the Mocattam hills, which forms a table two hundred feet above the 
plain of the city, and completely commands it; it is strongly fortified, especially towards 
the city. The Saladin of history and of romance was its founder; he built its defences 
in the twelfth century, and manfully opposed Richard Coeur de Lion and Philip Augustus. 
The French, during their occupation of Cairo, fifty years ago, strengthened the forti¬ 
fications by outworks; and Mehemet Ali lias still further improved its defences. He 
also built the splendid palace and hareem which are seen on the right cresting the 
hill. The Citadel is the lofty building which on the left of the range intercepts the more 
distant Mocattam. The minaret of the old or great mosque rises between the Citadel 
and the palace; and another grand mosque, now erecting, is intercepted by the dome 
of the ruined mosque in the foreground. 
The new palace is magnificent and capacious, combining the splendour of the East 
with all the luxuries of Europe which he could command. Gorgeous chandeliers from 
England and mirrors from France; plate-glass in such profusion that the windows of 
the state-apartments are triply glazed to keep out the sand of the Desert. The ceilings 
are painted in fresco, the marbles of Italy are employed in the decoration, and gorgeous 
carpets from England form the furniture of this vice-regal residence. 
The Hall of Audience is a noble apartment, one hundred and fifty feet long, and 
one hundred and twenty wide, paved with marble. Besides the palace, there is a 
mosque, not yet completed, which is intended to surpass all others in Cairo. Within 
the Citadel are many public offices,— the Mint, the Hall of Justice, and the Arsenal. 
To make room for the mosque, the famous Hall of Joseph, a lofty building supported 
on numerous handsome granite columns, was removed in 1829; a few of the columns 
only are yet standing, but those which formerly stood there were so carelessly removed 
that by far the greater number were broken—a fate that probably awaits the removal 
of the remainder. 
There are still some remains of the palace of Saladin, and the fine minaret of his 
mosque remains, but the' ruined palace is used as a weaving manufactory! On the 
