Cairo's City of the Dead has held the mausoleums of Egypt's ruling elite since the 7th century, when Amr Ibn al-As, Arab commander for the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 640 and then its governor, established a family burial place there. The combination of the quiet, unpaved streets of the cemetery on the city's outskirts and the ambient noise from nearby busy markets, schools and workshops makes the area oddly calm but at the same time vibrant. The tall modern apartment blocks providing cheap housing just behind the mausoleums contrast sharply with the eeriness of the ancient tombs.

Hassan Ahmed Ali, dubbed the “last remaining glassblower of Cairo” by local media, maintains his workshop near the funerary complex of Sultan al-Ashraf Qaytbay, the 15th-century structure printed on Egypt's one pound banknotes.

Popularly known as Hassan Hodhod, Ali represents the last generation of a family of glassblowers. He has taught the trade to his children, but there is no guarantee they will choose to make a living working under the heat more than 10 hours a day.

“I would not blame them if they didn't,” Hodhod told Al-Monitor. He recalled how his own father had tried to discourage him from glassblowing, telling the young Hassan that the jinns - evil spirits - made the glass expand.