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{{short description|Historic district in Cairo, Egypt}}{{Citations needed|date=February 2024}}[[File:Egypt, Esbekiyeh Palace, Cairo.jpg|thumb|A garden of the Azbakeya Palace]]
'''Azbakeya''' ({{langx|ar|أزبكية}}; also spelled '''Al Uzbakeya''' or '''Auzbekiya'''<ref>{{cite book | url = https://archive.org/details/guidetopalestin00cogoog  | title = Guide to Palestine and Egypt | location = London | publisher = MacMillon and Co., Limited | year = 1901 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/guidetopalestin00cogoog/page/n223 162]-166}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oUwzAQAAMAAJ | title = Oriental Cairo: The City of the "Arabian Nights" | first = Douglas | last = Sladen | location = Philadelphia | publisher = J. B. Lippincott Company | year = 1911 | pages = xiii, 45, 54–63| isbn = 9785877802247 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.lasegunda.com/Noticias/Internacional/2013/08/871760/Crisis-en-Egipto-Islamistas-salen-a-protestar-en-El-Cairo-pese-al-gran-despliegue-policial | title = Crisis en Egipto: Más de 70 muertos en nuevo día de enfrentamientos | trans-title = Crisis in Egypt: More than 70 dead in a new day of fighting | language = es | date = August 16, 2013 | work = [[La Segunda]] | publisher = Empresa El Mercurio SAP | access-date = September 11, 2019}}</ref>) is one of the districts of the Western Area of [[Cairo]], Egypt.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Western Area |url=http://www.cairo.gov.eg/en/Pages/Region.aspx?ReID=13 |access-date=2023-02-23 |website=www.cairo.gov.eg}}</ref> Along with [[Downtown Cairo|Wust Albalad (Downtown)]] and [[Abdeen Palace|Abdeen]], Azbakiya forms Cairo's 19th century expansion outside the [[Islamic Cairo|medieval city walls]] known officially as Khedival Cairo and declared as an Area of Value.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Khedivial Cairo |url=https://egymonuments.gov.eg/collections/khedivial-cairo/ |access-date=2023-03-26 |website=egymonuments.gov.eg |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite book |url=http://urbanharmony.org/download/pdf/khdweic_cairo_boundries2022.pdf |title=Khedival Cairo protection boundaries |publisher=National Organistation for Urban Harmony |year=2022 |location=Cairo |language=Ar}}</ref> It holds many historically important buildings and spaces.  One of these is the [[Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, Azbakeya|Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral]], which was  inaugurated by [[Pope Mark VIII of Alexandria|Pope Mark VIII]] in 1800<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.shababchristian.com/shababch/index.php?s=3260d4390aa93d9fc0c3b716938cc892&showtopic=5153&pid=12581&st=0& |title=shababchristian |access-date=2008-02-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928203630/http://www.shababchristian.com/shababch/index.php?s=3260d4390aa93d9fc0c3b716938cc892&showtopic=5153&pid=12581&st=0&#entry12581 |archive-date=2007-09-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and served as the seat of the [[Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria]] from 1800 to 1971. Azbakeya was the place where the [[Khedivial Opera House|first Cairo Opera House]] was established, in 1869.
== Administrative divisions and population ==
[[File:Azbakiya, Cairo district map.jpg|thumb|Azbakiya, Cairo district map]]
In 2017, Azbakiya diatrict/qism had 19,763 residents in its eight [[Local Government in Egypt|shiakhas]]:<ref>{{Cite web |last=Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) |date=2017 |title=2017 Census for Population and Housing Conditions |url=https://www.cedejcapmas.org/adws/app/4d5b52dc-669d-11e9-b6a6-975656a88994/index.html |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=CEDEJ-CAPMAS}}</ref><ref name=Note01>The interactive census site is the only available source with data at the shiakha level and must be queried as follows: Statistics and analysis > Population > 2017 Data > Gender >Statistical Tables >Total population and population by sex by shiyâkha/qarya > Choose location.</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="1" rowspan="1" |Nom
! colspan="1" rowspan="1" |Code 2017
! colspan="1" rowspan="1" |Population totale
|-
|`Urâbî
|012007
|2027
|-
|Fajjâla, al-
|012004
|2833
|-
|Jayyâra, al-
|012001
|837
|-
|Klût Bây (Clot bey)
|012008
|1522
|-
|Qabîla, al-
|012005
|4039
|-
|Qulalî, al-
|012006
|3439
|-
|Rîḥânî, al-
|012002
|953
|-
|Zahhâr, al-
|012003
|4113
|}
==History==
[[File:Le Kaire (Cairo). Vue de la place Ezbekyeh (Ezbekîya), côté du sud (NYPL b14212718-1268752) (cropped).jpg|thumb|The area shown from the River in c.1800]]
The district of Azbakeya was built upon a place of an old [[Copts|Coptic]] village, '''Tiandonias''' ({{Langx|cop|ϯⲁⲛⲧⲱⲛⲓⲁⲥ}}) or '''Umm Dunayn''' ({{Langx|ar|ام دنين}}) which was also called '''al-Maks''' ({{Langx|ar|المكس}} "customs") in latter sources and [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] documents.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Gabra|first1=Gawdat|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GrRSDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA94 |title=Christianity and Monasticism in Northern Egypt: Beni Suef, Giza, Cairo, and the Nile Delta|last2=Takla|first2=Hany N.|date=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-977-416-777-5|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Amelineau|first=Emile|title=La Géographie de l'Egypte À l'Époque Copte|year=1980|location=Paris|pages=491}}</ref>
By the time of [[Barquq]], the first [[Burji dynasty|Burji Mamluk sultan]] (1382-1399), a lot of reconstruction needed to be done within the walls of the city to repair the damages incurred as a result of the [[Black Death]]. In 1384, when Barquq started his [[madrasa]] in [[Bayn al-Qasrayn]], markets were rebuilt, and [[Khan al-Khalili]], the most famous touristic market in Cairo, was established.
[[Al-Maqrizi]] showed that the northern cemetery, founded by al-Nasir Muhammad, contained no building at all before his third reign. When al-Nasir Muhammad in 1320 abandoned the area between [[Bab al-Nasr (Cairo)|Bab al-Nasr cemetery]] and the [[Muqattam]], a small number of buildings started to be built in the northern cemetery.
Under the Burji Mamluks, northern cemetery became the new area targeted for the any new city expansion, since no ideological oppositions were found preventing the construction of dwelling within cemeteries. The lack of opposition allowed for the construction of striking religious buildings of monumental scale in the northern cemetery. Examples include the [[Khanqah of Faraj ibn Barquq]], [[Madrasa of Al-Nasir Muhammad]], the [[Emir Qurqumas Complex]], the [[al-Ashraf Mosque|Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay]] and the [[Complex of Sultan al-Ashraf Qaytbay]].
During the latter half of the 15th century, two final major transformations took place in Cairo: the port of [[Boulaq]], and a district called Azbakeya in the northwest section of the city. The parameters of the city had been unchanged for the past 300 years according to the map done by the French expedition in 1798. With [[Baibars]]'s conquest of [[Cyprus]] in 1428, Bulaq became the major port of Cairo. By the end of the 15th century, Bulaq was even able to take over the role as the major commercial port from [[Old Cairo]].
The Azbakeya district was developed when Amir Azbak al-Yusufi, one of Qaytbay's princes, established stables and a residence of his own and excavated Birkat al-Azbakeya, which was fed from the [[Cairo Citadel Aqueduct]]. With the [[Arab's Gulf]] always serving as the western boundary of the city and feeding nearby ponds, flooding would occur during the summer. After each flooding, surrounding lands would be transformed into lush green areas with vegetation. These beauty of the land in these areas were exquisite and the upper class fought over the each other for the first pick of the land to buy for the construction of their new palaces overlooking such bodies of water as Birkat al Fīl  "Elephant Pond" and Azbakeya Pond.
==Modern history==
[[File:مسرح الازبكيه 1928.jpg|thumb|Azbakeya theater in 1928]]
The [[Egyptian Museum]] was established by the Egyptian government in 1835 near the Azbakeya Gardens.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Johnson-Roehr |first1=S. N. |title=Making Egypt's Museums |url=https://daily.jstor.org/making-egypts-museums/ |website=JSTOR Daily|date=11 August 2023 }}</ref> The museum soon moved to [[Boulaq]] in 1858 because the original building was too small to hold all of the artifacts.
In the 1850s, the area was renovated during the rule of [[Isma'il Pasha]] in his plan to build a modern Cairo. Currently the well known ''Soor Elazbakeya'' (meaning the fence of Azbakeya) is a used books market<ref>[http://www.10best.com/Cairo/Shopping/Best_Shopping/Soor_Al_Azbakeya_Cairo_BID_89877/ 10 best] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071229100137/http://www.10best.com/Cairo/Shopping/Best_Shopping/Soor_Al_Azbakeya_Cairo_BID_89877/ |date=December 29, 2007 }}</ref> that originated by a gathering of used books traders by the fence of the Azbakeya garden in 1926. (The market relocated to El Darasa in 1991 while a Metro station was being built, but returned to its original location in 1998).<ref>{{cite web |title=Street Smart: Souq El Azbakeya, a haven for book lovers |url=https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/32/97/8283/Folk/Street-Smart/Street-Smart-Souq-El-Azbakeya,-a-haven-for-book-lo.aspx |website=Ahram Online}}</ref>
[[File:L'Ezbekieh - Parc paysager public au Caire.jpg|thumb|L'Ezbekieh – Parc paysager public au Caire]]
By the late 19th century, the area became a center of entertainment, with the openings of cafes, bars, gambling halls, hashish dens and at least thirteen large entertainment venues.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cormack |first=Raphael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kfUlEAAAQBAJ |title=Midnight In Cairo: The Female Stars of Egypt's Roaring '20s |date=2021-05-06 |publisher=Saqi Books |isbn=978-0-86356-338-6 |language=en |chapter=Chapter 1}}</ref> The Azbakeya gardens theater was the stage to most of the monthly concerts held by the famous Arab singer, [[Umm Kulthum]]. The Azbakeya gardens is only partially present now as two multi-story car parks have been built on large areas of the gardens.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Districts of Cairo|cairo}}
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