Bab al-Futuh
Twin round towers in a Fatimid city wall, hiding floor shafts for pouring boiling oil on attackers.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Bab al-Futuh in Cairo starts with a Venetian painter using this gate as the backdrop for Saint George and the dragon in 1492, then turns to the Armenian soldier, Badr al-Jamali, who actually built it after rising through slave armies to become the Fatimid empire's real ruler. You'll hear why he rebuilt Cairo's walls in stone with workers he trusted more than the locals, and what the gate's rounded towers and hidden floor shafts were designed to do to attackers. Even the name he gave it didn't stick with Cairo's own people.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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