| Summary: | The Fatimid dynasty was established in the Tenth century in what is modern day Tunis. Their capital was founded in the city of Al-Mahdya from which they expand- ed their realm to encompass North Africa and Egypt. They founded Cairo in 969 AD and moved the capital to this newly established centre of what was the Fatimid Caliphate. The Fatimids were known to be a lavish dynasty with a lot of pomp and exuberance. They initiated a lot of cultural activities that are still part of the Egyptian inherited culture up till today. The Fatimids also had many exchanges and influences on Sicily and Southern Italy. The Fatimids as a shi’i dynasty have left a lot of religious buildings that are still standing and functioning today, however their secular architec- ture is long gone. Despite many accounts on the Fatimid double palaces of Cairo, the manzaras, and the amazing throne halls, none of these buildings survive today. Consequently, this paper focuses on reconstructing the Fatimid secular architecture through historical textual narratives in books and traveller testimonials and descrip- tions. A visual presentation of Fatimid secular architecture is achieved through cre- ating illustrated frames that can serve in backgrounds in printed material, or studio setups for media purposes such as television series or movies.
A meticulous frame of enquiry is used in order to define the characteristics of Fatimid secular monuments and details by comparing to neighbouring regions and styles of the time. Furthermore, building techniques and terminology were examined. The resulting data is transformed into a visual language using manual sketching techniques with colored pencil and ink and edited digitally using photo editing software.
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