islamic cairo, cairo , egypt
Islamic Cairo is the city at its most exotic, chaotic and exhilarating; home to many of its most impressive monuments and beguiling markets. The name is a little confusing, not least because all of Cairo is Islamic! It’s a name used, by tourists rather than locals, to describe the areas of the city built and settled by successive ruling powers between about the 8th Century AD, and the start of the 19th Century. For the most part, Islamic Cairo is the city built by the 10th Century Fatimid rulers, which they called al-Qahira. This is the Arabic name for Cairo today, and can variously be translated as “the Conqueror”, “the Victorious”, or even “the Oppressive”! The north and south gates of the city still survive: Bab al-Futuh and Bab an-Nasr to the north, and Bab Zwayla to the south. Wandering the cramped, winding lanes of Islamic Cairo is like stepping back in time. Mosques and other Islamic monuments peer down on bustling street markets, where shoppers and vendors dance around each other in a ritual of haggling that has not changed in hundreds of years. Some of the monuments and streets have been lovingly restored; others are decrepit, run-down and strewn with nominal centre of Islamic Cairo is the area known locally as Azhar, which includes Midan al-Hussein, Khan al-Khalili bazaar (often known just as the Khan), and al-Azhar Mosque. North from the Khan towards Bab al-Futuh is an area known as al-Gamaliya. This stretch of al-Muizz li-Din-Allah street has been beautifully restored, and contains numerous Islamic monuments, such as Beit al-Souhaymi, and al-Hakim Mosque. West from Khan al-Khalili, down the hurly-burly market of al-Muski street, leads to Ataba – a crazy market area that begins to shade in to Downtown of the Khan, al-Muizz li-Din-Allah leads past monuments such as the Mosque-Madrassa of al-Ghouri, to the south gate, Bab Zwayla. South of Bab Zwayla is the Street of the Tentmakers. This area is known as al-Qalaa
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Location: islamic cairo , cairo , egypt
Photo credit: © pavlos christoforou / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
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