Islamic Cairo

Islamic Cairo is the medieval heart of the Egyptian capital, a dense quarter of mosques, madrasas, mausoleums and merchant houses accumulated over more than a thousand years of Islamic rule. Its lanes preserve monuments from the Fatimid, Ayyubid, Mamluk and Ottoman periods, from minaret-crowned schools to public fountains and old city gates. A famous street of medieval architecture runs through its core toward a great mosque. Visitors thread the crowded alleys past workshops of coppersmiths and tentmakers.