Al-Saliba Street

Al-Saliba is a historic street in Islamic Cairo running from Citadel Square to al-Sayyida Zeinab, passing the Mosque of Ibn Tulun (879 AD), Egypt's oldest intact mosque. Walking it is free; the monuments usually open 9 am – 5 pm.

Al-Saliba, "the crossing", was one of medieval Cairo's grand ceremonial roads: the route sultans took out of the Citadel on state occasions. It got its name over seven hundred years ago and was at its most fashionable from the 14th to the 16th century, when emirs vied to line it with mosques, madrasas (schools), khanqahs (Sufi lodges), bathhouses and palaces.

Heading east to west, you reach the Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun (879 AD, the oldest mosque in Egypt still intact) and, attached to it, Bayt al-Kritliyya, now the Gayer-Anderson Museum. Next comes the Sabil-Kuttab of Umm Abbas, a showy Ottoman fountain-and-school, followed by an almost unbroken row of Mamluk façades, minarets and carved stone doorways. It is an open-air gallery of Islamic architecture where ordinary Cairenes simply get on with their lives.

What to see

• Ibn Tulun Mosque, 879 AD, with its one-of-a-kind spiral minaret
• Gayer-Anderson Museum, covered on its own page
• Sabil-Kuttab of Umm Abbas, a lavish late-Ottoman charity fountain
• Several Mamluk qubbas (tomb domes) and madrasas

Visiting

• Opening hours: the street never closes; monuments usually 9 am – 5 pm
• Tickets: free to walk; museums and the Ibn Tulun minaret climb are paid separately
• Best time: mornings, before the midday heat
• Nearby: Al-Suyufiyya Street, Cairo Citadel, Salah al-Din Square