The Gate of Metawaley

The Gate of Metawaley in Cairo was one of the medieval Islamic gateways Roberts documented during his 1838-39 Egyptian sojourn, a Fatimid-era structure dating to the eleventh century that formed part of the city's historic defenses. Roberts's lithographic series The Holy Land and Egypt made such architectural documentation available to a wide audience, contributing to the Victorian appetite for authentic visual information about the ancient world. His scrupulous architectural drawing captured details of Islamic ornament and construction that were unavailable in European architectural literature, making his work valuable to scholars as well as collectors.

Roberts's meticulous rendering of the gate's Mameluke architecture captures every decorative detail with archaeological precision. The warm, golden light and the animated street scene create a vivid image of the living city around its medieval monuments.