Al-Saliba Street
π Location: Runs from the Citadel Square (Midan al-QalΚΏa) to al-Sayyida Zeinab Β Β· Β πΊ Period: 14th β 19th centuries Β Β· Β ποΈ Tickets: free to walk
Al-Saliba ("the crossing") is one of the great processional axes of medieval Cairo β the road sultans rode along when leaving the Citadel for state ceremonies. Named more than seven centuries ago, it reached the height of its prestige between the 14th and 16th centuries, when amirs competed to build mosques, madrasas (schools), khanqahs (Sufi lodges), bath-houses and palaces along its length.
Walk it east to west and you pass the Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun (879 AD β the oldest intact mosque in Egypt) and the adjoining Bayt al-Kritliyya / Gayer-Anderson Museum, then the Sabil-Kuttab of Umm Abbas (a stunning Ottoman fountain-and-school) and a near-continuous line of Mamluk faΓ§ades, minarets and carved stone portals. It is essentially an open-air museum of Islamic architecture that ordinary Cairenes happen to live and work along.
Highlights
- Ibn Tulun Mosque β 879 AD, with its unique spiral minaret
- Gayer-Anderson Museum β see our page
- Sabil-Kuttab of Umm Abbas β exuberant late-Ottoman charity fountain
- Multiple Mamluk qubbas (tomb domes) and madrasas
Visiting
- Opening hours: the street is always open; monuments typically 9 am β 5 pm
- Tickets: free to walk; museums and the climb up Ibn Tulun's minaret charge separately
- Best time: mornings before midday heat
- Nearby: al-Suyufiyya Street, Cairo Citadel, Salah al-Din Square