Based on the ancient Egyptian beliefs in the birth and death cycle of the sun – the nature of which is to rise in the morning from the east and set each evening in the west - the ancients built their homes on the east banks of the Nile and their tombs on the west. While house-like mastabas, great pyramids, and rock-cut tombs were the burial places of the rulers, shaft tombs - tunnels cut into bedrock which opened up in underground chambers - were the graves of the poorer common folk.

The temple is another structure through which the ancients expressed devotion to their beliefs. Regarded as a living god and often as the manifestation on earth of the one great divine force, the pharaoh was a figure worshipped by Egyptians. Viewed quite literally as houses for the gods, cult temples existed to house the imaged likenesses of particular deities related to various aspects of life and employment. Mortuary temples were similarly built and dedicated to a deceased pharaoh, but often held within them sections for the worship of various other divinities.

In ancient Egypt, the temple functioned as a community and administrative center as well as a religious one. A library, research rooms, housing for priests, and areas for food storage were also apart of the temple architecture. Successive rulers would enlarge and build upon the temples, making them enormous, sprawling structures.

The end of Pharaonic civilization was marked by political instability in which the Libyans, the Nubians, and later the Assyrians and the Persians each held the land for a time. It was not until the arrival of Alexander the Great that ancient Egypt experienced a revival of its former glory. During this period, Hellenic and Egyptian culture intermingled closely, producing some of history’s most fascinating art and architecture. Among such achievements were the long since vanished Pharos Lighthouse and Great Library of Alexandria.

Later Roman and Byzantine occupation of Egypt relegated the land to little more than an imperial outpost exploited for its grain harvest. Though like their Byzantine occupiers now a predominantly Christian society, the Egyptians were overtaxed and under-protected from wayward raiders. Naturally, these Egyptians welcomed the Arabs when they came to conquer, thereby initiating a new and wonderful chapter in the story of Egyptian architecture.

The Ibn Tulun, among Egypt’s earliest and most splendid mosques, was built by one of the first Islamic governors of Egypt. The Abbasids from the region of Iraq were eventually replaced by the Fatimids, a Muslim tribe from North Africa who erected the famous Al-Azhar religious university. Many of Cairo’s old walls and madrasas (schools) date from the Ayyubid period and the celebrated Salah Al-Din.

One of the most intriguing tales of Egyptian history surrounds the rule of the Mamluks, former slaves from Circassian lands, or present-day Russia. Purchased, converted to Islam, and educated, the Mamluks were a fascinating group whose long and boisterous reign ushered in a Renaissance of Islamic art. The middle-ages were times of flourishing trade and prosperity in Egypt. Many of the country’s most remarkable structures, including mosques, monuments, and public buildings, were commissioned by Mamluk sultans. Among such structures is the Khan el-Khalili, the great medieval labyrinth and still vibrant souk of old Cairo.