Khan el-Khalili Market

Khan el-Khalili Market

Introduction

Khan el-Khalili Market is located in the heart of Cairo (the Old City), consisting of thousands of individual small shops spread across dozens of narrow alleys. Many of these shops date back to the 14th century. The market features narrow streets lined with tightly packed stalls, primarily selling gold and silver jewelry, copperware, stone carvings, leather goods, and other traditional Egyptian handicrafts. It is beloved by foreign tourists for its quaint shops and wide array of goods. This area was originally the burial ground of the descendants of the Fatimid Caliph al-Mustansir Billah. In the 14th century, the then ruler of Egypt, Sultan Al-Mu’ayyad Shaykh (also known as Khan el-Khalili), ordered the demolition of the cemetery on the grounds that the Fatimids were heretics and had no right to establish a burial site. He funded the construction of a market on the site, which became Khan el-Khalili Market. Today, it has become a symbol of Cairo’s ancient culture and Oriental Islamic heritage, attracting visitors from around the world. Nearby, there are also the famous Al-Azhar Mosque and the Mosque of Imam Hussein.

  Cairo, Egypt