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From a very early period there was a town on the east bank of the Nile, opposite the Pyramids, which bore the name of Khere-oho, or "place of combat", because Horus and Seth were believed to have fought here. The Greeks called it Babylon, and the Romans preserved this name when they built up the settlement into a fortress. After the Arab Conquest in A.D. 641 the Caliphs built a new capital in the plain to the north of the Roman stronghold, naming it Fustat, and the name of Misr el-Fustat, or Misr for short, was thereafter applied both to the city and the land of Egypt.

After the fall of the Omayyads in 750 the entire town, with the exception of the Great Mosque, was destroyed by fire. A new capital was then established by the Abbasid governors in the El-Askar district, and at the end of the ninth C. the El-Oatai quarter, with the lbn Tulun Mosque, was built. When Gohar, the general of the Fatimid Caliph Muizz, conquered Egypt in 969 he built a military settlement to the north of El Gatai, naming it Misr el-Qahira (the "Victorious", after the Arabic name of the planet Mars, which was then at the meridian), and thus in effect founding the city of Cairo. In the 12th C. Saladin enclosed the two settlements of Fustat and El-Qahira within a single wall (never completed) and began to build the Citadel. Under the luxury-loving Fatimids the city was greatly enlarged and embellished, reaching its zenith in the 14th C. During this period, however, it was several times ravaged by plague, which carried off large numbers of people, and was frequently thrown into a turmoil by revolts, risings and bloody persecutions of Christians. In 1517, after the Battle of Heliopolis, the Ottoman Sultan Selim entered the city. Although Cairo suffered from plundering and oppression under Turkish rule, it still remained a busy provincial capital with an active cultural life.

Tourist Attractions in Cairo

Cairo - Coptic Museum
Attached to El-Moallaqa is the Coptic Museum, founded in 1910 by Morkos Pasha Simaika, the largest and finest collection of Coptic material. The museum was erected at the beginning of the 20th century, using architectural elements from old Coptic buildings, and later extended. In addition to works of religious art it contains Coptic arts and crafts and everyday objects from the third to the 18th century, particularly items of the early medieval period.

Cairo - Egyptian Museum – Jewelry
Room 3: a magnificent collection of jewelry, illustrating the development of the goldsmith's art from the earliest period (c. 3200 B.C.) to Byzantine times (A.D. 395-650). Of particular interest are four bracelets from the tomb of King Djer (First Dynasty; Case 2), demonstrating the high degree of skill achieved even at this early period; a gold falcon's head (Sixth Dynasty; Case 3, No. 4010); the Treasure of Dahshur, with outstanding examples of the work of the Middle Kingdom (12th Dynasty); the jewelry of Queen Ahhotep, mother of King Amosis, who drove out the Hyksos (1580 B.C.; Case 10); a hoard of gold objects from Bubastis (19th Dynasty; Case 11); and the gold jewelry of Queens Tiy (18th Dynasty) and Tewosret (19th Dynasty).

Cairo - Egyptian Museum – Mummies
Room 52: mummies, particularly mummies of Pharaohs, arranged in chronological order, followed by mummies of Queens. The X-ray photographs shown alongside the mummies have yielded information about their age, state of health and cause of death.

Cairo - Museum of Islamic Art
From the Midan el-Ataba, immediately southeast of the Ezbekiya Gardens, the wide Shari el-Qala runs southeast in a dead straight line to the foot of the Citadel. About a quarter of the way there it comes to the Midan Ahmed Maher, on the north side of which is the Museum of Islamic Art, founded bythe German architectand scholar Franz Pasha (d. 1915), the finest collection of its kind in the world, with masterpieces from every Islamic country.

Cairo - Sultan Hasan Mosque
On the west side of the Midan Mohammed Ali is the Sultan Hasan Mosque, built in 1356-63, perhaps by a Syrian architect, for the Mameluke Sultan Hasan el-Nasir. Situated on a shelving rock below the Citadel, it is perhaps the finest example of Arab-Egyptian architecture. The exterior, with its large areas of stone, is reminiscent of an ancient Egyptian temple. The facades are crowned by a boldly projecting stalactitic cornice, the pinnacles of which have been restored. The wide wall surfaces are relieved by blind niches and twin round arched windows. The mausoleum which projects from the southeast front is roofed with 180ft/ 55m high dome of Arab-Turkish type (rebuilt in 18th C.). The massive main doorway at the north corner is almost 85ft/26m high; and the minaret at the south corner is the tallest in Cairo (267ft/81.5m). The ground plan is in the form of an irregular Pentagon covering an area of 9,450 sq yd/7,900 sq. m, into which the crucifer shape of the original medrese has bee very skillfully incorporated.

Cairo - Barquqiya Mosque Sanctuary
The east wall of the sanctuary is strikingly beautiful.