Al-Muizz li-Din Allah

The spine of medieval Cairo, named for the caliph whose armies founded the city.

When the Fatimid general Jawhar founded Cairo in 969 for the caliph Al-Muizz li-Din Allah, this was its main artery, running from the northern gates to the southern. A kilometre of mosques, madrasas, fountains and merchant houses from a thousand years of rulers line it — the densest concentration of medieval Islamic architecture in the world, now largely pedestrian.