cairo969.com THE VICTORIOUS CITY Where a royal city became a world capital. CAIRO FOUNDED — 969 AD In 969 AD, the Fatimid general Jawhar al-Siqilli began building a new fortified capital beside the older city of Fustat. It was called al-Qāhira—The Victorious. Created first as a city of palaces, ceremony and power, Cairo soon grew beyond its walls. Al-Azhar arose as a centre of faith and learning, while scholars, merchants and builders transformed the royal capital into one of the great cities of the medieval world. Through Fatimid, Ayyubid, Mamluk and Ottoman eras, Cairo became a crossroads of Africa, the Mediterranean and the Islamic world—its gates, streets and monuments preserving more than a thousand years of civilisation. A sovereign timestamp of foundation, knowledge and continuity