The children playing football in a side street near the Ibn Toloun Mosque last Sunday evening were well aware that somebody important was visiting their neighborhood.
The main road was being sluiced down by street cleaners and holes filled with rubble. A dozen or so serious-looking men with walkie-talkies were prowling the area in search of security risks. And throughout the evening a steady flow of journalists and professionals in suits could be seen entering a newly-renovated mosque on Sabil Street, which runs between the Ibn Toloun Mosque and the Citadel.
The local children had been hoping to see Suzanne Mubarak that evening. In the end, they had to settle for Minister of Religious Endowments Mahmoud Hamdy Zaqzouq and Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni, resplendent in his jet black bouffant and open-neck shirt.
Flanking them as they took their seats for a video presentation were Cairo Governor Abdel-Azim Wazir, and the head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Dr Zahi Hawass, who burst in somewhat late, having been held up by the traffic and street cleaners.
The object of all this frenzied attention was the Sheikhu Mosque, a fine 14th century structure in the Mamluk style, which was being officially re-opened after four years of painstaking conservation work. Across the road, its sister building, the Sheikhu Khanqah was also being unveiled, as were two sabil/kuttabs — drinking fountains for passersby with Quran learning rooms above them.
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