Kodak Agfa presents : Cairo’s Nilometer and Manasterly Palace from Egypt’s Nile River

This is not a long Kodak Agfa tour but rather a very short one.

As we are talking about the Nile River nowadays considering the fact that Ethiopian officials are insisting to go on unliteral action and fill the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, I decided to dedicate more posts about the Nile River and its cruises which I enjoyed.

In March 2017, I was in a family Nile cruise when we passed by the famous Cairo’s Nilometer at the far South tip of Rhoda Nile island.

Egypt's Nilometer and Manasterly palace

The Cairo Nilometer is on the right of the photo.

This Nilometer is one of the oldest Islamic era and Umayyad-era buildings or monuments that had remained despite all the Caliphate, Kingdoms and capitals that followed in Egypt.

I think its location on a Nile island and its role as Nilometer made it survive all that time.

This is a little monument that survived a millennium shows the importance of the Nile to the Egyptian people and its economy.

Historically, the first Nilometer in this location was built in the Umayyad caliphate during the rule of Caliph Al-Walid-I in 715 AD.

It was reportedly re-designed and reconstructed to its current shape a hundred-years later by none other than famous Abbasid scientist Abu El-Farghani aka El-Fraganus in 861 AD per the orders of Abbasid Caliph El-Mutawakkil.

It had a renovation in 1927.

The building on the left is the famous El-Manasterly Palace.

This one-story palace was built in 1851 by Hassan Pasha Fouad El-Manasterly; Cairo governor. 

Now my favourite shot in this area was this one because it showed in one scene the El-Manasterly palace, the Nilometer and the famous El-Manasterly wooden bridge aka “The wooden bridge” which needs another post alone.

Egypt's Nilometer, Manasterly palace and bridge

In fact, each of the mentioned buildings here needs a separate story. We can consider this is a teaser. Interestingly, this palace was confiscated by the Egyptian government in 1951.

Entrance to Cairo's Manasterly Palace

In 2017, El-Manasterly palace was under renovation works.

It has already turned to a place to host parties, photo sessions and concerts. The 19th-century palace hosts a small museum dedicated to Egyptian legendary singer Um Kalthoum.

Entrance to Cairo's Manasterly Palace

Here is the entrance from the Nile.

You can enjoy a-3D 360 tour inside the Nilometer and the Manasterly Palace as presented by Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. There is no ancient Egyptian inscription on it as it was claimed before

Here is a very short video, nearly half a minute I filmed three years ago outside the Nilometer.

Since the time of ancient Egyptians, the Nilometers were used to measure the Nile River clarity and water levels during the annual flood.

Egyptians used to calculate the amount of flood, food as well as taxes on crops and land accordingly.

The Nilometers in Egypt had become obsolete after the Aswan High Dam; which by its turn will be obsolete after the inauguration of Ethiopia’s GERD.

Hopefully inshallah, Kodak Agfa pays a visit to the Nilometer and Manasterly Palace soon.