Stéphane Pradines
Synopsis:
This talk explores the architectural history of the fortifications of Cairo, which was protected by Fatimid and Ayyubid walls built between 969 and 1183 CE. It focuses in particular on well-known monuments, such as the Fatimid gates and the Ayyubid Citadel, as well as new discoveries from archaeological excavations carried out between 2000 and 2016. The excavation results yield a vivid and up-to-date overview of the chronology of these military structures, both within the local Egyptian context and from a global historical perspective.
Selected References:
Bianca, Stefano. Syria: Medieval Citadels Between East and West. Turin: The Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 2007. 
Creswell, K.A.C. The Muslim Architecture of Egypt, 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952-1959.
Hillenbrand, Carole. The Crusades: Islamic Perspectives, 2nd ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010.
Kennedy, Hugh, ed. Muslim Military Architecture in Greater Syria from the Coming of Islam to the Ottoman Period. Leiden: Brill, 2006.
Pradines, Stéphane. “Ethnicity and Architecture: The Fatimid Town Walls in Cairo.” In Earthen Architecture in Muslim Cultures: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives, 104–145. Leiden: Brill, 2018.
Citation:
Stéphane Pradines, “The Fortifications of Medieval Cairo,” Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, published 24 March 2026.
Stéphane Pradines is an archaeologist and Professor of Islamic Art and Architecture at the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC) in London. He served as Director of the excavations of the Fatimid and Ayyubid Walls of Cairo, as well as a number of other excavations in the Indian Ocean (Maldives) and East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Comoros). He is a specialist of medieval trade in the Indian Ocean and the material culture of war in Muslim Africa, especially arms and military architecture. His most recent book is entitled Historic Mosques in Sub-Saharan Africa, from Timbuktu to Zanzibar (Brill, 2021).