At the north-east of Cairo, there is one of the most ancient cities in Egypt, capital of the XIII Nomo of Lower Egypt. Heliopolis is the greatest religious center for the solar cult in Egypt. Heliopolis, in Greek “The city of the Sun”, dedicated to the shining star, was Iunu for the Egyptians, the same city mentioned in the Bible as On.

Today it is the name of a suburb in Cairo and almost nothing is left of the ancient city. Anyway, unknown by the best part of the public, in some areas some remains of the past are kept. In the east and in the southeast there are instead the Muslim necropolis, there are two different parts, in the great area, that stop the expansion of the city: the one of the “ Necropolis of the Caliphs” and the one of the “imam esh-Shafi”. One of the few rests is Sesostri’s I obelisk, in front of Ra’s temple, in the surrounding walls that protect the monuments there are the rests of an archaic sanctuary and the obelisk of Teti. In the  “Necropolis of the Caliphs” (of Qaytbey) there are the tombs of the mameluks circassi masters (from 1382 to 1517) and various mosques.

Mosques Qaitbey