Bayn al-Qasrayn is the district and plaza between two palaces constructed by the 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...

 dynasty in mediæval Islamic Cairo

Islamic Cairo

Islamic Cairo is a part of central Cairo noted for its historically important mosques and other Islamic monuments. It is overlooked by the Cairo Citadel....

, within present day 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...

. It is an element in the Fatimid Caliphate founding of the new city of Cairo.

Fatimid founding

The Fatimid dynasty established itself in 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...

 in 969 C.E. Upon their arrival the Fatimid caliph

Caliph

The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word   which means "successor" or "representative"...

s began to build a new state north of the old capitol city of Fustat. Gawhar al-Siqilli, a Fatimid general, founded the new city Cairo. He was in charge of planning, building and constructing the new city of Cairo. He organized the town in such a way that the caliphal palace was at the center.

Fifty years after the construction of the first palace, another smaller palace was erected to the west of the first. The area and plaza between these two palaces received the name of “Bayn al-Qasrayn”.

Ayyubid development

As the centuries progressed, Cairo developed into a full-scale urban center. Beginning with the Ayyubids and continuing thought the Bahri Mamluk rule, the higher powers of the city wanted to rid the area of its past Fatimid history, starting with the center palace structures. The palaces and the area surrounding them were reconstructed. Thus, the area became the central location in the immense city.

Ibn Batutah, who visited in 1326, reinforced this concept and commented that the space of Bayn al-Qasrayn was, “beyond one’s ability to describe.” The additional buildings include hospitals, tombs, educational centers and commercial shops, making the area of Bayn al-Qasrayn a busy street. The Egyptian historian Al-Maqrizi counted 12,000 shops on Qasabah Street alone.

Qasabah Street

Qasabah Street became the main commercial street stemming from the Bayn al-Qasrayn in Fatimid Cairo, where book dealers, spice and nut suppliers, saddle makers, and cloth merchants sold their goods to the people of Cairo. The Bayn al-Qasrayn became totally integrated as Qasabah Street during the Bahri Mamluk

Mamluk

A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...

era.

From the original Bayn al-Qasrayn layout the Qasabah expanded into a mile-long street which extended from the northern to the southern gates of the city.