Editing Fatimid Caliphate (section)

== Art and architecture ==
{{Main|Fatimid art|Fatimid architecture}}
[[File:Egyptian - Lusterware Plate with Bird Motif - Walters 482036.jpg|thumb|[[Lustreware]] Plate with Bird Motif, 11th century. Archaeological digs have found many kilns and ceramic fragments in [[al-Fustat]], and it was likely an important production location for Islamic ceramics during the Fatimid period.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Mason, Robert B. |author2=Keall, Edward J. |date=1990 |title=Petrography of Islamic pottery from Fustat |work=Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt |pages=165–84 |volume=27 |jstor=40000079}}</ref>]]
The Fatimids were known for their exquisite arts. The Fatimid period is important in the history of [[Islamic art]] and [[Islamic architecture|architecture]] as it is one of the earliest Islamic dynasties for which enough materials survive for a detailed study of their evolution.<ref name=":05223">{{Cite book |last=Bloom |first=Jonathan M. |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three |publisher=Brill |year= |editor-last=Fleet |editor-first=Kate |location= |pages= |chapter=Fāṭimid art and architecture |journal=The Encyclopaedia of Islam |issn=1873-9830 |editor-last2=Krämer |editor-first2=Gudrun |editor-last3=Matringe |editor-first3=Denis |editor-last4=Nawas |editor-first4=John |editor-last5=Rowson |editor-first5=Everett}}</ref> The stylistic diversity of Fatimid art was also a reflection of the wider cultural environment of the Mediterranean world at this time.<ref name=":05223" /> The most notable characteristics of their decorative arts are the use of lively [[Figurative art|figurative]] motifs and the use of an angular, floriated [[Kufic]] script for [[Arabic]] inscriptions.<ref name=":05223" /> Among the best-known art forms that flourished are a type of ceramic [[lustreware]] and the crafting of objects carved in solid [[Quartz|rock crystal]]. The dynasty also sponsored the production of [[linen]] textiles and a ''[[tiraz]]'' workshop. A vast collection of different luxury objects once existed within the caliph's palaces, but few examples of them have survived to the present day.<ref name=":05223" />

Many traces of [[Fatimid architecture]] exist in both Egypt and present-day Tunisia, particularly in the former capitals of Mahdia (al-Mahdiyya) and Cairo (al-Qahira). At Mahdia, the most important surviving monument is [[Great Mosque of Mahdiya|Great Mosque]].<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Bloom |first=Jonathan M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IRHbDwAAQBAJ&q=Islamic+Palace+Architecture+in+the+Western+Mediterranean&pg=PP1 |title=Architecture of the Islamic West: North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 700–1800 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-0300218701 |location= |pages=47–51 |access-date=12 March 2022 |archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115132432/https://books.google.com/books?id=IRHbDwAAQBAJ&q=Islamic+Palace+Architecture+in+the+Western+Mediterranean&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }}</ref> In Cairo, prominent examples include the [[Al-Azhar Mosque]] and the [[Al-Hakim Mosque]], as well as the smaller monuments of [[Aqmar Mosque|al-Aqmar Mosque]], the [[Mashhad of Sayyida Ruqayya]], and the [[Al-Salih Tala'i Mosque|Mosque of al-Salih Tala'i]].<ref name=":42">{{Cite book |last=Behrens-Absouseif |first=Doris |title=Islamic Architecture in Cairo: An Introduction |publisher=Brill |year=1989 |location=Leiden, the Netherlands |pages=}}</ref>{{Sfn|O'Kane|2016}} Al-Azhar Mosque, which was also a center of learning and teaching known today as [[al-Azhar University]], was named in honour of Fatimah (the daughter of Muhammad from whom the Fatimids claimed descent), who was called ''Az-Zahra'' (the brilliant).<ref>Halm, Heinz. ''The Fatimids and their Traditions of Learning''. London: The Institute of Ismaili Studies and I.B. Tauris. 1997.</ref> There were two main [[Fatimid Great Palaces|Fatimid palaces]] in Cairo, covering a huge area around [[Bayn al-Qasrayn]], near Khan el-Khalili.{{Sfn|Raymond|2000|pp=49–52}} Parts of the city walls constructed by Badr al-Jamali—most notably three of its gates—also survive.