Cairo

Egypt · 8 sights · guided virtual tour

Welcome to Cairo, the capital and largest city of Egypt, spreading out near the Nile Delta. Its story reaches back around 6000 years, and the Giza pyramid complex and the ancient cities of Memphis and Heliopolis lie today within the city. Cairo itself was founded in 969 and became the capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in 973. So many domes and towers rose here over the centuries that it earned the title the city of a thousand minarets, and its historic centre became a World Heritage Site in 1979. Today Greater Cairo is home to over 22 million people. Let us begin with its most ancient wonders.

Sights

1. Giza pyramid complex ▶ Listen

   Before you, at the edge of the Western Desert, stand the Great Pyramid and the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure. They were all built during the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, between about 2600 and 2500 BC, and the site also holds temples, cemeteries and the remains of a workers' village. Most of the limestone came from the rock right beneath your feet. In Hellenistic times, the Great Pyramid was listed among the Seven Wonders of the World. It is by far the oldest of those ancient wonders, and the only one still standing.

2. Great Sphinx of Giza ▶ Listen

   Facing east across the Giza Plateau lies the Great Sphinx, a resting creature with the head of a human and the body of a lion. It was carved straight out of the limestone bedrock and is the oldest known monumental sculpture in Egypt, 73 metres long from paw to tail. Whose face it shows is still debated: perhaps the pharaoh Khufu, or one of his sons. And the missing nose? Examinations point to a deliberate act with rods or chisels. Contrary to a popular myth, it was not shot off by Napoleon's troops in 1798.

3. Egyptian Museum ▶ Listen

   Here on Tahrir Square stands the Egyptian Museum, in a building constructed in 1901. Inside lies the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world, more than 170,000 items. It was also the first national museum of the Middle East. The idea is older than the building: the Egyptian government first established a museum back in 1835, near the Ezbekieh Garden, and the collection moved several times before finding its home here.

4. Grand Egyptian Museum ▶ Listen

   Only about 2 kilometres from the pyramids rises the Grand Egyptian Museum, the largest museum in the world dedicated to a single civilisation. Its estimated 100,000 artefacts span Egyptian history from the Predynastic Period to Late antiquity. The highlight for many is the complete collection of King Tutankhamun, 5,398 pieces displayed together in one vast section. Look out, too, for the second solar ship of Khufu. The project was first announced in 1992, and the official opening took place on 1 November 2025.

5. Khan el-Khalili ▶ Listen

   Step into the lanes of Khan el-Khalili, a famous bazaar in the historic centre of Cairo. It grew up as a centre of trade in the Mamluk era and takes its name from one of its historic caravanserais. Originally the name belonged to a single building; now it covers the whole shopping district. Around you, artisans in small workshops still produce traditional crafts and souvenirs, and the bazaar draws tourists and Egyptians alike. Long before the market, this ground lay beside the great palaces of the Fatimid caliphs.

6. Mosque of Muhammad Ali ▶ Listen

   High above the city, crowning the Citadel, you see the domes and slender minarets of the Muhammad Ali Mosque. It was commissioned by Muhammad Ali Pasha and built between 1832 and 1857, and it is one of the most visible landmarks on Cairo's skyline. Unlike the older Cairene buildings around it, the mosque follows an entirely Ottoman style with European influences. Its walls are covered in alabaster, which is why it is sometimes called the Alabaster Mosque. To make room for it, old Mamluk-era palaces on this site were demolished.

7. Cairo Citadel ▶ Listen

   On a spur of the Mokattam hills, overlooking the whole city, stands the Citadel of Saladin. Saladin began building it in 1176, and for nearly 700 years it was the seat of government in Egypt and the home of its rulers. Mamluk sultans expanded it, and in the 19th century Muhammad Ali Pasha rebuilt much of the site, giving it the shape you see today. In the 20th century it served as a military garrison, and only in 1983 did it open to the public. Today its walls hold mosques and museums.

8. Al-Azhar Mosque ▶ Listen

   Enter the courtyard of Al-Azhar, the first mosque founded in the city that would later be called the City of a Thousand Minarets. It was dedicated in 972, and its name is usually thought to come from a title given to Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad. From its school grew Al-Azhar University, long regarded as the foremost institution in the Islamic world for the study of Sunni theology and Islamic law. Its fortunes have varied: Saladin's dynasty shunned it, but under the Mamluks it was expanded and honoured once again.

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