Monument · Egypt
Sabil-Kuttab and Wikala of Nafisa al-Bayda
سبيل وكتاب ووكالة نفيسة البيضاء
A 1796 Ottoman-style public fountain, Qur’an school and merchants’ inn on Al-Muizz Street close to Bab Zuwayla.
Where it is
30.0430, 31.2580
Why go
Nafisa al-Bayda, wife first of the Mamluk Ali Bey al-Kabir and later of Murad Bey, founded this charitable and commercial complex near Bab Zuwayla in 1796. The rounded Ottoman-style sabil faces Al-Muizz Street through three copper windows with geometric lattice, and the kuttab above opens through an arcade on marble columns. The adjoining wikala, once known as the wikala of candles for the candles made and sold there, keeps street shops below and mashrabiyya-fronted upper rooms for travelling merchants.
Near Sabil-Kuttab and Wikala of Nafisa al-Bayda
Monument
Bab Zuwayla
The surviving southern gate of Fatimid Cairo carries the later minarets of Al-Mu’ayyad’s mosque.
0 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Mosque
Mosque of Al-Mu’ayyad Shaykh
A Mamluk mosque beside Bab Zuwayla, built on the site of a former prison.
0 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Mosque
Mosque of al-Salih Tala’i
Regarded as Cairo’s final Fatimid mosque, raised above shops opposite Bab Zuwayla and inscribed with Kufic Qur’anic texts.
0 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ
Monument
Sabil-Kuttab of Muhammad Ali, Al-Aqqadin
A rounded public fountain and school commissioned in memory of Muhammad Ali’s son Tusun.
0 km · straight-line distance; driving distance and time differ