Bab El Nasr

This guide to Bab El Nasr in Cairo starts in 1087, when the Fatimid vizier Badr al-Jamali tore down an older brick gate and raised this stone one in its place, giving it a grand new name of his own choosing. It follows what happened to that name over the centuries, and points out the carved shields on the twin towers and the spiraling vaulted stairways inside them, said to be among the oldest of their kind anywhere. The story jumps forward more than seven hundred years to French officers under Napoleon, who left their own mark on the stonework during the occupation of Cairo. Look closely at the towers and you can still find their carved letters.