Ayyubid Cairo

The Ayyubids, the dynasty founded by Saladin, ruled Egypt from the mid-twelfth to the mid-thirteenth century, a period of great changes in the cities of al-Fustat and al-Qahira, forerunners of modern Cairo. Al-Qahira, under the preceding Fatimid dynasty, a forbidden royal enclosure, was opened up to the general populace, while in both cities religious buildings, public baths, commercial institutions, and fortifications were pulled down, restored, or newly established. The great citadel of Cairo, the seat of power in Egypt for the next seven hundred years, was built on a spur of the Muqattam…