Al Darb Al Ahmar District, Cairo Markets

Al Darb Al Ahmar District, Cairo Markets

Whatever manufactured  objects there are in the world,” wrote the Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi in 1671, “Cairo people use  them, set them out and trade in them.” Nearly 350 years later, this tradition still exist on in al-Darb al-Ahmar area. In Al Darb Al Ahmar live about  100,000 persons, south-east of central Cairo, is said to be residence to a thousand of Egyptian skilful workshops. The place abounds with artisans crafting many various things such as ftents, books, boxes and brass lanterns to glass bowls and silk carpets.
The Street of the Tentmakers ( Well known as El Khayamyia street) show this commercial spirit. It was established  in 1650 as an arcade, this arcaded street is a sequence of workrooms whose walls are covered with decorative textiles. From his cubic cavity in the Ottoman-era wall
Some of today’sEl Darb El Ahmar weavers are descended from the old families who would make  the holy kiswa , the fabric that covered the famous holy building of El Kahbah at Mecca, as well as tents, clothes and packsaddles for those traveling as pilgrimages to Islam’s holiest site in Mecca.
The area, covering just under a square mile, contains more than 40 ancient buildings erected during successive Fatimid, Ayyubid, Mamluk and Ottoman epoch. In cooperation with the government, many of these monuments, such as the Aq-Sunqur mosque and Amir Khayr-bak complex, have been restored by the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) – a non-denominational organisation that aims to improve the welfare and prospects of people in the developing world.