Sultan Al-Ashraf Qaytbay Mosque and Mausoleum

This guide to the Qaytbay Mosque and Mausoleum in Cairo follows Al-Ashraf Qaytbay from a boy bought as a mamluk slave-soldier to sultan of Cairo in 1468, and the relic said to rest beneath this dome: a stone slab said to bear a footprint of the Prophet Muhammad, carried from Mecca. You'll hear about his nearly three-decade reign against a rising Ottoman Empire and the dozens of buildings, from Cairo to Mecca, that he found the money to raise even as his treasury drained. Listen for how the three-tiered minaret beside the dome narrows with each stage.