STORY: Historical towers in Egypt's Saladin Citadel open to visitors after restoration
SHOOTING TIME: Feb. 18, 2024
DATELINE: Feb. 19, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:43
LOCATION: Cairo
CATEGORY: CULTURE

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the towers
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): AHMED ISSA, Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities

STORYLINE:

Two towers at the Saladin Citadel, one of Cairo's most famous landmarks, opened to the public on Sunday after restoration.

Egyptian Tourism and Antiquities Minister Ahmed Issa said at the inauguration ceremony that the opening of the Ramla and Al-Haddad towers, together with other newly opened attractions, would extend the time of a tour at the citadel from one hour to three hours and contribute to increasing the number of nights spent by visitors in Cairo by one.

SOUNDBITE (Arabic): AHMED ISSA, Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities
"The Salah El Din Citadel doesn't currently receive the estimated time it deserves as a destination. Travel agencies always complain about the short time visit made by tourists which takes a maximum of one hour. Our plan aims to increase the duration of the visit in the coming months to at least three hours, as the visit will include these two towers, so tourists can go up and down."

Mustafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the two towers would be added to the citadel's itinerary and visitors could access them with the citadel's entry ticket.

He said the restoration works included cleaning and replacing stones, maintaining stone stairs and floors, building walls for safety and protecting shrines.

The Ramla Tower stands 20.8 meters tall, and the Al-Haddad Tower is one of the largest towers of the citadel, which was built by Salah El-Din in 1176 and served as the seat of power for most of Egypt's rulers for 700 years.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Cairo.
(XHTV)