The hordes of visitors thronging the Citadel of Salah al-Din come for the medieval fortifications, historic mosques, and panoramic views over Cairo. Few tourists visitors think to enter the National Military Museum tucked away in a rose-pink building at the edge of the site. But those who do are rewarded by a head-spinning mélange of baroque architecture, military oddities, and totalitarian paintings.

The former royal palace that houses the National Military Museum was added to the Citadel in the early 19th century, when the ruler of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, renovated the medieval fortress to serve as the seat of his modern government. Hailing from Kavala (then part of the Ottoman Empire and now part of Greece), Ali brought the finest craftsmen from Istanbul to build his palaces in the extravagant style known as Ottoman Baroque.

In the later 19th century, the Egyptian government moved downtown and the Citadel was closed and mostly abandoned. In the 1950s, a group of military officers took over Egypt in a coup. As one of their many revolutionary reforms, they opened the Citadel to the public and installed a laudatory museum of the Egyptian military in the empty palace.

Over the decades, the Egyptian government has filled the museum with an eccentric array of artifacts, including ancient Egyptian sculptures, medieval weapons, and colorful uniforms.

In the 1990s, the government decided to update the museum with a series of dramatic dioramas and paintings of great battles and heroes of Egyptian history. Astute observers will notice that the Egyptians depicted in these scenes are painted in a Socialist Realist style and have unexpectedly East Asian features. This is because they were painted by North Korean artists who were working for the totalitarian government of Kim Jong Il. The art was loaned to Egypt for the occasion. Because of North Korea’s diplomatic isolation and control over the arts, this museum is of the only places in the world where such art can be freely seen.