Islamic Cairo & the Citadel

The Fatimid dynasty conquered Egypt in 969 and founded a new walled royal city, al-Qahira — 'the Victorious', which gave Cairo its name. The next year they began Al-Azhar Mosque, whose school grew into one of the oldest continuously operating universities in the world. Three of the Fatimid city gates — Bab Zuweila, Bab al-Futuh and Bab al-Nasr — still stand.

Salah al-Din (Saladin) began the Citadel around 1176 on a spur of the Muqattam hills, and it remained the seat of Egypt's rulers for almost 700 years. Its skyline is dominated by the Ottoman-style Mosque of Muhammad Ali, completed in the 19th century, often called the Alabaster Mosque.

Under the Mamluk sultans (1250–1517) Cairo was one of the largest cities in the world. Al-Muizz Street is lined with their mosques, madrasas and hospitals, and the Sultan Hassan Mosque is one of the most monumental buildings of medieval Islam. The Khan el-Khalili bazaar grew from a caravanserai built in the 1380s and still trades in lamps, spices, silver and textiles.

Below the Citadel stand two giant mosques side by side. The Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hassan (1356–1363), built to teach the four schools of Sunni law, has a vast courtyard ringed by four soaring vaulted halls. Its neighbour, the Al-Rifa'i Mosque, looks medieval but was completed in 1912; it holds the tombs of Khedive Ismail, members of Egypt's royal family and the last Shah of Iran.

Al-Muizz li-Din Allah Street was the main avenue of Fatimid Cairo, running from Bab al-Futuh in the north to Bab Zuweila in the south. Restored and largely pedestrianised, it is lined with the Qalawun complex (a mosque, madrasa, mausoleum and hospital of 1284–1285), the Madrasa of Barquq and the elegant Ottoman house of Bayt al-Suhaymi. Climb one of Bab Zuweila's minarets for a view over the rooftops.