The glory of medieval Cairo -- The eventful reign of the Mamluks -- From slave to Sultan -- Birth of the empire -- The dynasty of the Bahrids -- The apogee of Mohammed el-Nasir -- Catastrophe and crisis -- The grand Circassian style -- The swansong -- Turning history -- The ancient world : crucible of Mamluk art -- The Turko-Mongolian invasions -- The Crusades -- The influences on Mamluk art -- A world in motion -- The classic mosque and the madrasa -- Tombs and mausolea -- The minarets -- Buildings within the fabric of the town -- Ornamentation -- The tomb of Kalaoun and the mosque of the citadel -- An architectural success -- The work of Mohammed el-Nasir -- The madrasa of Sultan Hasan -- The divine fortress -- An island site -- The richness of the decoration -- The Barkukiya of Cairo -- The precious mausoleum -- The Cairo of A Thousand and One Nights -- The 'desert' mausoleum of Barkuk -- The rule of symmetry -- A mausoleum with a cupola in stone -- The funerary chambers -- The last flowering of religious art -- The mosque of Muayyad -- The mausoleum of Kait Bey in the City of the Dead -- Syrian influences -- The Mamluk palaces -- The sultan's palace in the citadel -- Aulic ritual -- A survivor : the Beshtak Palace -- Private houses -- Public service buildings -- The grandeur and decadence of Mamluk art -- The Wakf system -- Masterpieces in peril -- Appendices. Islamic architecture of Cairo before the Mamluk Sultanate -- The first mosque -- The art of the Tulunids -- The Shiite Caliphate of Cairo -- The mosque of Sultan Hakim -- The wall of Badr Gamali -- Under the banner of Saladin.