The Mogamma is a vast Stalinist administrative building on the southern edge of Tahrir Square, completed in 1952 to house Egypt's central government bureaucracy. With 18 floors, 14,000 employees, and 55 departments handling everything from residency permits to vehicle licensing, it became the iconic symbol of Egyptian bureaucracy at its most overwhelming. Kafka's castle, built in concrete.
For most visitors it's of interest only as a visual landmark and cultural reference point: the building appears in countless Egyptian films as shorthand for institutional absurdity. If you need to process any official paperwork in Cairo, you may find yourself here; otherwise, the best view is from the Tahrir Square end, where the building's monumental scale and indifference to human comfort is most visible.