The minaret in the foreground serves to demonstrate that Cairo is not a pharaonic city, though the presence of the Pyramids leads many to think otherwise. At the time the Pyramids were built, the capital of ancient Egypt was Memphis, 13 miles to the south of the Giza plateau.
The basic institutions of the city of Cairo were established in 969 AD by the early Fatimid Dynasty. There had been earlier settlements, such as the Roman fortress of Babylon and the early Islamic city of Fustat, established by Amr ibn al-As, the general who conquered Egypt for Islam in 642 AD.
Much of the city the Fatimids founded remains today. The great Fatimid mosque and university of Al-Azhar is still Egypt's center of Islamic study. Three great gates of the period still straddle two of Islamic Cairo's main thoroughfares. Cairo grew and spread beyond its walls; but it remained a medieval city for 900 years. It wasn't until the mid-19th century that Cairo started to change in any significant way.
The minaret of the Ibn Tulun Mosque (photo) is a famous Cairo landmark, though completely unique in its design. Ibn Tulun's congregational mosque was the focal point of the Tulunid capital that lasted only 26 years. The architectural influence of the city of Samarra, in present day Iraq, reflects Ibn Tulun's Iraqi origins.
