Monuments of Egypt 6

The Nilometer in Roda Island

The Nilometer 861/247. This is the oldest monument in Cairo and it is situated at the southern tip of the Island of Roda. The Nilometer is housed in the little building with a pointed roof, which is a recent reconstruction of a Turkish original. The pavilion on the west side is all that remains of the palace of Hassan Pasha Al-Monasterli, built 1830. It was a part of the salamlik area and is now used as an exhibition center for local artists and crafts ( closed Fridays ). The garden that once surrounded it have been replaced by a water treatment plant. The Nilometer is normally locked but the custodian lives nearby and he or one of his children will come out with a key a suitable interval after your arrival.

The nilometer has been altered and repaired on numerous occasions, but the basic structure dates back from 861, when it was built on the order of the Caliph Al-Motawakkil. It is a stone lined pit that goes down well below the level of the Nile. Three tunnels lead into it at different levels. In the center of the pit is a column graduated into sixteen cubits of about 54 centimeter each. When the water rose during the time of the flood in August, it was possible to tell by the heightest point it reached on the column whether it would by a year of too much, too little or just enough water. When it reached 16 cubits, this was the signal for cutting the dam that held the water back from the Khalig, a task that was performed with much ceremony. The tunnels to the river are now blocked up, and the nilometer no longer functions.

Enter and go down the steps to the level of the upper tunnel the widest of the 3 levels. The pointed arches in the recesses are apparently from the original structure and this anti date by some 3 hundred years the appearance of this arch in Europe architecture. As you go back up, notice the Quran inscriptions in Kufic script that runs around the pit. These inscriptions are verses about rain, corps, abudance, etc. we send down rain as a blessing from heaven whereby we cause gardens to spring froth and the grain to harvest (50:9) Hast thou not seen how that god has sent down out of heaven water, and in the morning the earth become green (22 :62).

Originally this frieze ended with a short dedicatory inscription saying that the structure was built in 861.

This was removed and replaced by more verses from the Quran, perhaps by Ibn Tulun in 872, who did not want to give credit to Al-Motawakkil.