Cairo

Cairo, the capital of Egypt, is a huge city of over 12 million people that sprawls in all directions. But thankfully, Cairo is full of little districts and communities that feel much smaller and more intimate than the city of which they are a part.

Al-Azhar Mosque and Universit

Al-Azhar University in Cairo is one of the oldest operating universities in the world. The Islamic university is connected to the beautiful and historic Al-Azhar Mosque.
The mosque and university are named in honor of Fatima Az-Zahraa, the daughter of Muhammad, from whom the Fatimid Dynasty claimed descent.

The Citadel

In the 12th century, Saladin and his successors built an impenetrable bastion in the Citadel, using the most advanced construction techniques of the age. For the next 700 years, Egypt was ruled from this hill.

During the 1330s al-Nasir Muhammad, who ruled on three different occasions for a total of 42 years (AD 1293-1340) and was considered the greatest Mamluk sultan, tore down most of the Ayyubid buildings to make room for his own needs, which included several palaces and a mosque in addition to barracks for his army.

The Coptic Museum

Housing the world's largest collection of Coptic Christian artwork, the Coptic Museum in Cairo provides a link between ancient and Islamic Egypt. 

 The Coptic Museum is generally arranged by artistic medium. The first floor has carved stone and stucco, frescoes, and woodwork. The second floor includes textiles, manuscripts, icons, and metalwork.

The Egyptian Museum

The Egyptian Antiquities Museum in Cairo, known more commonly as the Egyptian Museum, is a huge neoclassical building that houses the largest collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts in the world.

The Egyptian Museum is an outgrowth of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, established by the Egyptian government in 1835 in an attempt to limit the looting of Egypt's priceless artifacts.

The Museum of Islamic Arts

Too often overlooked by visitors to Cairo, the Museum of Islamic Arts is one of the finest museums in the city.

The museum's extensive collection of over 10,000 pieces includes mainly Egyptian art, but there are pieces from elsewhere in the Islamic world as well.

Arranged according to medium, the exhibits illustrate every era of development, from Ummayad to Abbasid, Fatimid, Ayyubid, and Mamluk works.

The artworks include woodwork, stucco, intarsia, ceramics, glass, metalwork, textiles, and carpets.

The Ibn Tulun Mosque

The Ibn Tulun Mosque is a huge and historic mosque in Cairo built by Ahmad Ibn Tulun. The oldest mosque in Egypt, it is also famed for its lovely architecture and unique minaret.
Ibn Tulun built this mosque in 879 AD with the intention of accommodating his entire army during Friday prayers. It was the third congregational mosque to be built in what is now greater Cairo, and it is the oldest mosque in Egypt that has survived in a fairly original form.

The Church of St.George

The Church of St. George in Coptic Cairo is the principal Greek Orthodox church of Egypt. It is built atop an old Roman tower and adjoins the Monastery of St. George.
The Church of St. George was built in the 10th century, but a fire destroyed the original structure. The present church dates only from 1904.

The Great Sphinx

The Great Sphinx is a colossal stone statue located next to the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Carved out of limestone, the Sphinx has the facial features of a man and the body of a recumbent lion; it is approximately 240 feet (73 m) long and 66 feet (20 m) high.

The Sphinx is thought to be primarily a guardian figure, protecting the tomb of the Khafre by warding off evil spirits. Arabs know the Sphinx of Giza by the name of Abu al-Hawl, or "Father of Terror."

The pyramids of Giza

The pyramids of Giza are the only surviving Ancient Wonder of the World and one of the most famous tourist attractions in the modern world. They are some of the oldest sacred sites in our index and certainly among of the most impressive. (The Great Sphinx of Giza has a separate article.)
Although it is clear the pyramids were used for the burial of pharaohs, the construction, date, and possible symbolism of the Giza pyramids are still not entirely understood.
Giza is the most important site on earth for many New Age followers, who are drawn by the pyramids' mysteries and ancient origins. Since 1990, private groups have been allowed into the Great Pyramid, and the majority of these have been seekers of the mystical aspects of the site. But even the most skeptical visitor cannot help but be awed by the great age, grand scale and harmonic mathematics of the pyramids of Giza.

The Step Pyramid

The Step Pyramid was built during the 3rd Dynasty (2649-2575 BC) for the pharaoh Djoser by his architect Imhotep. Imhotep was later deified and became the patron god of architects and doctors.

Djoser's pyramid was a revolutionary design. Previously, pharaohs were buried in rectangular mastabas (like that of Mereruka nearby). Imhotep created a pyramid by stacking six mastabas on top of each other. This design would later evolve into the smooth-sided pyramids seen at Giza and elsewhere.

The site was a great attraction in antiquity: As evidenced by ancient graffiti, people came here as tourists and pilgrims from as early as the Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 BC), if not earlier.