Overview
Saladin sited it to command the city and the road from Syria, and successive dynasties rebuilt within the walls rather than beside them. Muhammad Ali cleared the Mamluk palaces in the 1820s and raised his alabaster mosque, modelled on Istanbul rather than Cairo — a deliberate statement about which capital he was answering to. Three museums now occupy the lower enclosures.
Highlights
The terrace outside the mosque gives the classic view over the city to the pyramids on a clear day, which in Cairo means winter mornings. The mosque interior, hung with a ring of glass lamps, is worth sitting in for ten minutes. The Police Museum, oddly, holds the best view of the enclosure walls.