Everyone is aware of the Citadel of Cairo as Egypt’s seat of political power since its establishment by Salah Al-Din in the 12th century, hosting all of its rulers since then. The Ayyubids, the Mamluks, the Ottomans, and Muhammad Ali Pasha’s Family all ruled from the citadel until the seat of power moved to the Palace of Abdin in the time of Khedive Ismail. However, only a few are aware that the Citadel has been the seat of Design Power. While its political power has now certainly faded, its position as a transcendental Seat of Design Power, figuratively and literally, is still evident.

In addition to all of its military engineering innovations and wonders, such as its various towers, walls, gates, fortifications, and incredible waterworks, the Citadel has been and is still home to many civilian architectural typologies and iconic design styles. Mosques such as that of Al-Nasir Mohammad, Sulayman Pasha al-Khadim, and Mohammad Ali Pasha’s Mosque, to name a few, as well as palaces, royal halls, and iwans such as the Great Iwan and Al-Ashraf Khalil’s palace, Al-Qasr al-Ablaq, Al-Jawhara palace and the Justice Palace represent a formidable timeline of Cairean architecture.

The design impact of objects produced in and by the Citadel was not merely limited to architecture. Within the premises of these architectural marvels, more design was displayed and produced. Sculptures and graphics, as early as Salah-Aldin’s Rank, Baybars’s lion's statuettes, and the graphics displayed on coins that were produced in the Citadel’s mint or Dar al-Darb are all design contributions that proliferated and inspired the world of design. This is not an exaggeration, especially when we know that the Kisswa, the cover of the Ka’baa, venerated, seen, and often kept by millions of Muslim pilgrims over the years, was produced in the Citadel.

GEMMA is eager to highlight this incredible history and influence over Cairo design during the Cairo Design Week. Our proposal seeks to celebrate the continuum, the DNA that permeates all of these design layers and outcomes that the Citadel of Cairo formed, as it stands today, using GEMMA’s exquisite products. DAA’s design response to GEMMA’s desire, resorted to celebrating the basic working-lines geometries, that are often overlooked and hidden by the more obvious layers of typological and stylistic final design products, it is also a celebration of all the lost and demolished wonders that once existed in the Citadel.

Citadel of Cairo: Seat of Design Power is a phantom iwan that belongs to and connects the past, present, and future and dances between the material and the immaterial worlds simultaneously.