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Cairo's historic districts preserve a dense architectural record of religious, commercial and political life. Founded as a Fatimid capital in 969, Cairo expanded around and beyond earlier settlements, with later Ayyubid, Mamluk and Ottoman rule adding new layers. Mosques, religious schools, fountains, markets and residential streets remain interwoven within this urban fabric. Al-Azhar, the surviving city gates and the monumental complexes of the Mamluk period are among its principal landmarks. The UNESCO property known as Historic Cairo encompasses this inherited urban landscape within the much larger modern metropolis. Its significance lies in the survival of neighbourhoods and everyday commercial traditions as well as major monuments.