During the Mamluk period, Cairo and its environs witness an unpreceded urban development and expansion. New quarters are created inside and outside the city’s walls, and the population grows with over 200.000 inhabitants before the burst of the plague in the fourteenth century.
The medieval metropolis depends on the relatively distant Nile river as its only source of fresh water, while a system of wells and waterwheels within the city satisfies the demand of water for purposes other than drinking. In order to overcome the difficulties related to water provision, Cairo’s urban communities envision different solutions, such as the organization of professional water-carriers transporting waterbags from the river to the city dwellings.
The ruling elites, in turn, include water-related services in their numerous charitable endowments (awqāf). These pious foundations are among the factors that boost the growth and development of the urban space, enriching the city with landmarks that survive up to our times: madrasas, mosques, minarets, bathhouses (hammams), sabīls (fountains) and mausolea.
A tentative analysis shows how these endowments of the elites are first and foremost financial arrangements for the benefit of its founders. With this perspective, Angela Isoldi’s research tries to understand the actual impact of these foundations on the water provision of the medieval metropolis.
About the presenter
After a BA in Arabic and Persian language in Napoli (2017), Angela Isoldi completed her ResMA in Middle Eastern Studies at Leiden University (2020). Since 2020, she has been a PhD student at Radboud University (Nijmegen) within the VICI project Source of Life: Water Management in the Premodern Middle East. Angela Isoldi’s research deals with water management in Mamluk Cairo (1250-1517), with a particular focus on the study of manuscript sources such as waqf deeds.
This lecture will not be recorded or livestreamed. We open our doors at 5:30 and close them at 6:15 or earlier in case the lecture room has reached full capacity.
