Cairo Tower (Gezirah)
The Cairo Tower (Arabic: برج القاهرة, burj al-qāhira, colloquially burg al-qāhira) is a free-standing concrete tower in Cairo, Egypt. It stands in the Zamalek district on Gezira Island in the River Nile, close to the city centre. At 187 m (614 ft), it is 43 metres (141 ft) higher than the Great Pyramid of Giza, which stands some 15 km (9.3 mi) to the southwest. It is one of Cairo's most famous and well-known landmarks. The Cairo Tower was built from 1956 to 1961, it was designed by the Egyptian architect Naoum Chebib, the tower's partially open lattice-work design is intended to evoke a lotus plant. The tower is crowned by a circular observation deck and a rotating restaurant with a view over Cairo. One rotation takes approximately 70 minutes. A story published by the Egyptian government in the 1960s , is that the american government paid a $ 100 000 to Gamal abdelnasser as a personal gift, and that abdelnasser deployed this amount of money to start the construction of cairo tower thus uncovering the gift to public, authenticity of this story is not granted.
Location:
Center of City, Cairo,
Egypt How to get there:
From outside Egypt International flights direct to Cairo, or via many European and Eastern European cities. Also package tours and charter flights. Contact your travel agent for details.
Description
Over180 meters high , it is the most outstanding attraction of modern Cairo. The first of the top two storeys has a rotating restaurant and cafeteria. Visitors can enjoy a panoramic view of Cairo from the observation platform.