El-Mo`ez Street, Fatimid Cairo
El-Mo`ez Street, one of the oldest streets in Cairo, is approximately one kilometer long. The street, according to UN studies, has the greatest concentration of medieval architectural treasures in the world. The street is named after the fourth Fatimid Caliph, conqueror of Egypt and founder of medieval Cairo, Al-Mo`ez Li-Din Illah (r. 953-975).
The street stretches from Bab Zuweila and the southern walls of the city to Bab El-Fotouh and Bab El-Nasr on the northern walls.
The street is commonly considered to consist of three sections: El-Ghuriyya, south of the intersection with Al-Azhar Street; El-Mo`ez and Khan El-Khalili, north and west of the intersection; and El-Gamaliyya, north and east of the intersection.
After the fall of the Fatimid Caliphate (909-1171) the two Fatimid Palaces on either sides of the street (hence the neighbourhood's name: Beyn El-Qasreyn) as well as the Caliphal Fatimid Cemetery (now El-Hussein Mosque) were destroyed. Eventually, they were replaced with tens of monumental mosques, madrassas, mausoleums and sabil-kotabs under the patronage of Egypt's various Ayyubid, Mamluk, Ottoman and Alewi rulers.
Opposite the monumental Bimaristan of Sultan Qalawun (right) stands the mausoleum complex of Al-Salih Negm ed-Din Ayyub (r. 1240-1249), the last Ayyubid Sultan. The mausoleum marked the introduction of a remarkable architectural formula which would influence Islamic architecture forever: the attachment of tomb, school and mosque in funerary complexes. The sabil-kotab attached to the Ayyubid mausoleum are a later addition by the short-lived Ottoman Viceroy, Khusru Pacha (r. 1535-1536).
El-Mo`ez Street, Fatimid Cairo
El-Mo`ez Street, one of the oldest streets in Cairo, is approximately one kilometer long. The street, according to UN studies, has the greatest concentration of medieval architectural treasures in the world. The street is named after the fourth Fatimid Caliph, conqueror of Egypt and founder of medieval Cairo, Al-Mo`ez Li-Din Illah (r. 953-975).
The street stretches from Bab Zuweila and the southern walls of the city to Bab El-Fotouh and Bab El-Nasr on the northern walls.
The street is commonly considered to consist of three sections: El-Ghuriyya, south of the intersection with Al-Azhar Street; El-Mo`ez and Khan El-Khalili, north and west of the intersection; and El-Gamaliyya, north and east of the intersection.
After the fall of the Fatimid Caliphate (909-1171) the two Fatimid Palaces on either sides of the street (hence the neighbourhood's name: Beyn El-Qasreyn) as well as the Caliphal Fatimid Cemetery (now El-Hussein Mosque) were destroyed. Eventually, they were replaced with tens of monumental mosques, madrassas, mausoleums and sabil-kotabs under the patronage of Egypt's various Ayyubid, Mamluk, Ottoman and Alewi rulers.
Opposite the monumental Bimaristan of Sultan Qalawun (right) stands the mausoleum complex of Al-Salih Negm ed-Din Ayyub (r. 1240-1249), the last Ayyubid Sultan. The mausoleum marked the introduction of a remarkable architectural formula which would influence Islamic architecture forever: the attachment of tomb, school and mosque in funerary complexes. The sabil-kotab attached to the Ayyubid mausoleum are a later addition by the short-lived Ottoman Viceroy, Khusru Pacha (r. 1535-1536).