Bab al Futuh is a gate in the walls of the Old City of Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, facing north. It was finished in the year 1087. It stands at the northern end of Muizz Street

Muizz street

Al-Muizz Street in Islamic Cairo, Egypt is one of the oldest streets in Cairo, approximately one kilometer long. A United Nations study found it to have the greatest concentration of medieval architectural treasures in the Islamic world...

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The gate was part of fortification built by Commander/Vizier Badr al-Jamali of Fatimid

Fatimid

The Fatimid Islamic Caliphate or al-Fāṭimiyyūn was a Berber Shia Muslim caliphate first centered in Tunisia and later in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171.The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the...

 Imam/caliph Mustansir. Name 'Futuh' indicate it as victory gate.
Its rounded towers were a stronger defense than the square towers of Bab al-Nasr (another Old City gate, just to the east). They had shafts for pouring boiling water or burning oil on attackers, and arrow slits.
In Bab al-Nasr kalema-tut-Shahadat

Shahada

The Shahada , means "to know and believe without suspicion, as if witnessed"/testification; it is the name of the Islamic creed. The shahada is the Muslim declaration of belief in the oneness of God and acceptance of Muhammad as God's prophet...

 is inscribed by the customary Shia formula of shahada

Shahada

The Shahada , means "to know and believe without suspicion, as if witnessed"/testification; it is the name of the Islamic creed. The shahada is the Muslim declaration of belief in the oneness of God and acceptance of Muhammad as God's prophet...

tain/Islamic confessional double phrase, which includes a third, specifically Shia phrase, stating the right of Ali to succeed Prophet Muhammad. This is a reflection of Fatimid

Fatimid

The Fatimid Islamic Caliphate or al-Fāṭimiyyūn was a Berber Shia Muslim caliphate first centered in Tunisia and later in Egypt that ruled over varying areas of the Maghreb, Sudan, Sicily, the Levant, and Hijaz from 5 January 909 to 1171.The caliphate was ruled by the Fatimids, who established the...

 dyansaty's (Ismaili

Ismaili

' is a branch of Shia Islam. It is the second largest branch of Shia Islam, after the Twelvers...

) Shia identity, and the fact that they were the ones who built the city of Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

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