Places to Explore

From graceful minarets to gleaming astrolabes, medieval Islam offers a host of treasures

1 AL-AZHAR MOSQUE

CAIRO, EGYPT

With its sweeping white courtyard and towering minarets, the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo is truly a sight to behold. The mosque was founded in 970 in the wake of the Fatimid conquest of Egypt by a general named Jawhar al-Siqilli. It was intended to be the Friday mosque for the city of Cairo, which was chosen as the new capital for the Fatimid Caliphate. It also became a key centre of Islamic learning, with the first seminar taking place here in 976 and the mosque still being attached to the university today. Since its early days, the mosque has undergone many expansions. As you walk into the white courtyard, which forms the original core of Al-Azhar, you’ll find yourself surrounded by arcades of keel-shaped arches that date from the time of the Fatimid caliph Al-Hafiz li-Din Allah in the 12th century. While above you, you’ll see three minarets which were originally built in 1339, 1495, and 1509 and contribute to Cairo’s nickname of ‘the city of a thousand minarets’.