Culture

Cairo is a center of legitimate Arabic theater, although performances are subject to government censorship. Both ballet and modern dance are exceptionally popular in Cairo, whose ballet company (the Cairo Ballet) was founded in 1960 with help from the Soviet Union, which sent its own dance teachers to help train the members of the company. However with the expulsion of Soviet advisers from Egypt in 1972, the Russian presence at the ballet ended. The quality of the troupe is subsequently said to have declined, and in 1991 it was bolstered by the addition of dancers from Russia and Italy. Cairo is the film capital of the Arabic world, although its film industry has declined since its heyday in the 1940s and 1950s, thanks to strict censorship and economic factors. However, Cairo's residents are avid filmgoers and flock to both Egyptian and foreign movies. The Cairo Puppet Theater performs at the Ezbekiyya Gardens north of Ataba from October through May.

History

The first settlement in the region of present-day Cairo was al-Fustat, founded in A. D. 641 as a military encampment by the Arabic commander 'Amr ibn al-'As. Under the dynasties that ruled Egypt over the following centuries, the town grew into a major port city. In A. D. 969 Jawhar, the leader of an Islamic sect called the Fatimids, founded a new city near al-Fustat, initially naming it al-Mansuriyah (its name was later changed to al-Qahirah, or Cairo). When the Fatimids became the rulers of Egypt, founding a dynasty that lasted for two centuries, Cairo became their capital. When Saladin, a Sunni Muslim, defeated the Crusaders and founded the Ayyubid dynasty in the twelfth century, he retained Cairo as his capital, and it became the center of a vast empire. (Al-Fustat, however, was burned down as part of the "scorched earth" strategy that defeated the Crusaders.) In the thirteenth century, the Ayyubids were eclipsed by Turkish military conquerors known as the Mamluks, who ruled Egypt from A. D. 1260 to 1516. During the first hundred years of Mamluk rule, Cairo experienced its most illustrious period. Al-Azhar University, which had been founded in the tenth century, became the foremost center of learning in the Islamic world, and Cairo played a key role in the east-west spice trade. Most of its greatest buildings were constructed during this period.

Landscape

The medieval landscape of the city of Cairo indicates the elemental forces that shaped the development of the city. The natural movement, formations, and the rhythm of the Nile have dictated the human relationship to the landscape. The scale of these natural and human forces has meant that it is not a static landscape, but a constant subject to subtle changes. Parts of the landscape of Cairo have been totally transformed, and this transformation can sometimes be detected in an archeological record. Over the past twenty years, the growth of planned and informal settlement in Old Cairo has rendered the ancient landscape unrecognizable. Many elements of the ancient landscape have been obscured and sometimes destroyed. Some evidences show how distinct the modern topography of Old Cairo is from the ancient landscapes that lies beneath it.