The massive, two-towered, southern gate of the old medieval city was built in the 11th century. Climbing its many steps brings you on to ramparts and the minarets of the adjacent 15th-century Al-Mu’ayyad Mosque. With a panoramic city view across rubble-strewn rooftops, you can see why Cairo is known as the ‘city of a thousand minarets’.
The area around the gate is fascinating, its narrow streets full of tiny shops and workshops. The black and white building of the Al-Gouri Mosque-Madrassa, with its minarets resembling a chequered chimney pot, and the decorative gold against marble of the Mosque of al-Fakahani, stand out on a busy market street.
Seek out the covered Tentmakers Bazaar in Shari Kayyamiya across the square in front of the Gate. It is an amazing street where the traditional craft of decorating pavilion-like tents with brightly coloured, hand-stitched appliquéd cloth is still practiced. Admire, too, the patterned cushions, quilts and decorated bedcovers.
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