//
Photo: Francisco Anzola, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Founded in 970, al-Azhar is one of Cairo's oldest mosques and the world's oldest operating university.
Al-Azhar Mosque, known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in the historic Islamic core of the city of Cairo, Egypt. Commissioned as the new capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in 970 CE, it was the first mosque established in a city that eventually earned the nickname "the City of a Thousand Minarets". Its name is usually thought to derive from az-Zahrāʾ, a title given to Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
One of the most sacred Islamic sites in the country and the Middle East, the mosque hosts the shrine in which the head of Ibn al-Hussein, the grandson of Muhammed the Prophet, is alleged to have been buried. The present building dates to 1870 and replaces a much earlier 12th century mosque. The Midan (square) before the mosque forms one of the most convenient access points to the Khan el-Khalili.
Built by Mamluk Sultan Al-Nasir c. 1304 in honor of his father Qalawun. The complex contains a mosque, a madrasah (Islamic school) and the mausoleum where Sultan Qalawun is buried. The mausoleum in particular is often described as the world's second most beautiful, second only to the Taj Mahal, which it slightly resembles.
The Al-Azhar Park is overlooking Darb al-Ahmar and the Citadel. Built on a garbage dump, it's today a green lung of Cairo and a pleasant area to stroll around and enjoy magnificent views of the city. It hosts a restaurant in a modern castle-style building and several good cafes. The theater has musical events almost every evening.
Possibly the best-preserved Ottoman merchant house (16-17th century) in Cairo. Little visited and a place of quiet beauty. It's a museum now.
One of the largest Fatimid mosques in Cairo. It was originally decreed in 990 by the famously eccentric caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ("Ruler by God's Command") who, among other things, prohibited eating grapes or playing chess. Increasingly paranoid towards the end of his reign, he disappeared without a trace at age 36. The mosque has been used as a prison, a warehouse and an elementary school before being restored (or, rather, rebuilt) as a mosque in 1980.
el'arafa
A Islamic necropolis and cemetery made of regular houses and wall but without roofs, inside of which and between still people are living.