Khan El Khalili is an old market district (souq) in Cairo. It goes back around 600 to 500 years ago, majing it one of, if not the oldest, markets in Egypt. The souq of Khan El-Khaili survives till today, where it is a great tourist attraction, as well as an important market among the locals.

The origins of Khan El-Khalili goes to the times of the Ayyubids. Before the Ayyubids, Cairo was a gated city that wasn’t open for the commoners. It was only for the ruling class of Egypt, where the administrative headquarters of Egypt were located. After the end of the Fatimid dynasty, Saladin opened the gates of Cairo to the commoners and moved the administrative affairs of the country to the Cairo Citadel. The main axis of old Cairo was the Qasaba street (now Al-Muizz street), which ran through the city from its northern gate of Bab El-Futuh to its southern gate of Bab Zuweila and passed by Bayn El Qasrayn (another important street which ran between two great palaces in the eastern and western ends of the city, from which the street earned its name which literally means “between the two palaces”). Slowly, Qasaba street became a centre for merchants who stopped in the street to sell their goods. By the time of the Mamluks, Khan El-Khalili started to take great leaps and the number of shops greatly increased. Due to the increasing number of shops and the decreasing space, the Mamluks started to integrate shop spaces in the architecures of their buildings. For example, a lot of the mosques built by the Mamluks had stores on the outside walls of them, which benefitted both the merchants and the building institutions as well, as the shops’ revenues contributed back in the funding sources of building more shops and mosques and maintaining the current structures. When Qansuh Al-Ghuri became sultan, he demolished and reconstructed a lot of the city’s main landmarks, including Khan El-Khalili, which he demolished and rebuilt it in 1511, and it became known as Khan El-Fisqiya (Khan of the Fountain) and centuries later as Wikala El-Qutn. Al-Ghuri remodeled the area to have a more grid-like plan. The new complex resembled the Ottoman souqs which were rising in popularity at that time. What remains today from Al-Ghuri’s time is Suq Al-Nabulsi and its stone gates, along with the entrance facade and gate of Wikala Al-Qutn. The total nnumber of souqs by the end of the Mamluk era was 21. Following the Mamluk era, Cairo lost some of its importance as an imperial capital, due to falling under the turkish Ottomans. Khan El-Khalili was still an important market, especially with the increasing number of turkish merchants settling in Cairo, but the marketplace was having ups and downs in accord with the international political status of Egypt. This continued till the 18th century, when the building of new shops and the increase in the market’s area became more common, and by the end of the 18th century, just before Napoleon’s arrival in Egypt, Khan El-Khalili had 39 main souqs. In the 19th and 20th century, the government started expanding to the west and a new street called El-Muski was built, which was parallel to the older Qasaba street. Newer blocs were built which included settling homes for merchants of the are, and the two areas of El-Muski and Khan El-Khalili remain today as influential as the were then, if not more.

Today, Khan El-Khalili is major touristic attraction in Cairo as it is the main bazaar of the city, where tourists can buy souvenirs, antiques and jewelry. The area also has lots of coffeehouses, with the most popular one being El-Fishawy, which goes back to 1773, and was also known to be frequented by the Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz in the 60s. The area in general has a medieval look, due to its unchanging in structure since mainly the 16th century, which makes just strolling through Khan El-Khalili a time warping experience that many people, especially tourists, enjoy as a fun break from reality.