Citadel of Salah El Din

Salah El Din began the Citadel in 1176 on a spur of the Mokattam hills, choosing the site because the air was cleaner — the story goes that he hung meat around Cairo and built where it spoiled last. It remained the seat of Egyptian government until the 1870s.

The dominant building is the Mosque of Muhammad Ali, an Ottoman-style mosque with a 52-metre dome and two 82-metre minarets, faced entirely in alabaster. The terrace outside gives the best panorama in Cairo, reaching to the pyramids on a clear day.

Begun 1176 by Salah El Din, expanded by the Mamluks and comprehensively rebuilt by Muhammad Ali Pasha in the 1820s. The 1811 massacre of the Mamluk beys took place in the narrow lane below the Bab al-Azab gate.