This City of the Dead used to house only corpses dating back to the 7th century. Created as an Arabic cemetery during the conquest of Egypt, the necropolis has developed into one of Egypt’s worst slums where the dead and living coexist in morbid neighborliness.

 The necropolis is separated roughly into two regions: the Northern Cemetery to the north of the Citadel, and the older Southern Cemetery to the south of the Citadel. There is also another smaller cemetery north of Bab al-Nasr.

This city founded by Amr ibn al-As, who lead the Arab conquest of Egypt in 642 AD. The area contains some 30 Mamluk monuments and is part of a UNESCO heritage site. It also includes many Ottoman and 19th century tombs of historic value that are largely unknown. 500,000 people occupy the necropolis, filling the gaps around the final resting places of 7th century Egyptians. Like so many other slums across the world, the City of the Dead is greatly populated by children, who must face fears and live in and around tombs, and make do with their morbid surroundings.

The poorest live in the City of the Dead slum, and Manshiyat Naser, which is also known as Garbage City, a center of recycling and reuse Zabbaleen vendors . Magic Life Tours offers trips and tours to the city of the dead and the Garbage City.