Saladin began the Citadel in 1176, on a promontory of the Mokattam hills, and a foundation inscription dates its completion to 1183 or 1184. In the Mamluk period al-Nasir Muhammad, sultan from 1293 to 1341, was the greatest builder, and the Mosque of al-Nasir Muhammad of 1318 is still largely preserved. The Northern Enclosure was military and the Southern Enclosure was the sultan's residence.
Muhammad Ali Pasha demolished many older buildings from 1805 to 1848, including the Great Iwan, and gave the Citadel much of its present form. His mosque was designed by Yusuf Bushnak of Istanbul on the model of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, with a large dome and tall, pencil-like minarets. It was completed in 1857.
The Citadel is built mostly of Mokattam limestone, and Saladin's Well is cut 279 feet (85 m) into rock. UNESCO listed it in 1979 as part of Historic Cairo. It opened to the public in 1983.
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