1 AL-AZHAR MOSQUE
CAIRO, EGYPT
With its sweeping white courtyard and towering minarets, the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo is truly a sight to behold. The mosque was founded in 970 in the wake of the Fatimid conquest of Egypt by a general named Jawhar al-Siqilli. It was intended to be the Friday mosque for the city of Cairo, which was chosen as the new capital for the Fatimid Caliphate. It also became a key centre of Islamic learning, with the first seminar taking place here in 976 and the mosque still being attached to the university today. Since its early days,
