The view from the minaret
The whole of Al-Muizz Street running north and the roofs of old Cairo below.
JMCC1 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Djehouty — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Djehouty — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Djehouty — CC BY-SA 4.0
One of three surviving gates of the Fatimid city wall, standing at the southern end of Al-Muizz Street — and the best thing about it is that you can climb it. It was built in 1092 under Badr al-Jamali as part of the fortification of Fatimid Cairo, and was the main southern gate through which the pilgrimage caravans left and armies entered. Its history is heavy: the heads of the condemned were displayed here for centuries, and here Tuman Bay, the last Mamluk sultan, was hanged in 1517 after the Ottomans took Egypt — a well-known episode, in which the rope broke twice before the third attempt succeeded. The two minarets crowning the towers do not belong to the gate at all but to the adjoining Mosque of al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh, built on top of it in the fifteenth century — a Mamluk sultan using the towers of a Fatimid gate as the base for his minarets. And that is the point of the visit: the minarets can be climbed on a ticket, by a narrow dark spiral stair, and the view from the top along the whole of Al-Muizz Street running north, and over the roofs of old Cairo, is among the best in the city — and far less known than it deserves. Around the gate is the Tentmakers' Market, whose shops still stitch appliqué textiles by hand, one of the last working craft souks. An hour covers it, and it is the natural end of a walk down Al-Muizz Street from Bab al-Futuh.
The whole of Al-Muizz Street running north and the roofs of old Cairo below.
Shops still stitching appliqué by hand — one of the last working craft souks.
From 1092, through which pilgrim caravans left and armies entered.
Southern end of Al-Muizz Street, Historic Cairo
Museum of Islamic ArtThe most important museum of Islamic art in the world by collection, and yet mos7 min walk
Al-Azhar MosqueThe oldest working university in the world and one of the oldest mosques in Egyp7 min walk
Khan el-KhaliliCairo's great bazaar since the fourteenth century, and still a working market ra9 min walk
Al-Azhar ParkA park on a hill between Fatimid Cairo and the Citadel, with a stranger history 10 min walk
Al-Muizz StreetA single street said to hold the greatest concentration of Islamic architecture 12 min walkYes, and it is by far the best part of the visit. The view from the minaret over Al-Muizz Street and old Cairo is little known and among the finest in the city. But the stair is genuinely narrow, dark and spiral — anyone uneasy in confined spaces should stay at ground level.
A covered souk adjoining the gate whose shops stitch khayamiya — hand-appliquéd textiles once made for ceremonial tents and pavilions. It is one of the few crafts still practised in front of you in Cairo, and pieces are sold in various sizes and haggled over.
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