One of the world’s largest squares, framed by the tiled masterpieces of Safavid Isfahan.
The world's largest car-free old city.
The Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa on the platform holiest to Judaism and third-holiest to Islam.
The 27-metre mud minaret of the 16th-century mosque and the Tuareg gateway to the Sahara.
The fourth holiest city of Islam: the Great Mosque of 670 and the carpet souks.
The mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, Timur's unfinished masterpiece and Kazakhstan's holiest site.
The Kul Sharif mosque inside a Kremlin, the capital of Tatarstan where minarets and domes share a skyline.
The first Ottoman capital under Mount Uludag: the Green Mosque, the silk bazaar and Iskender kebab.
Medieval minaret and mausoleums.
Ancient Saharan town of desert libraries.
Seven hundred monuments in a maze of covered souks around the Zitouna mosque, largely unchanged since the Middle Ages.
Tiny island of coral-stone colonial buildings that named the country.
A walled Silk Road city preserved whole — minarets, madrasas and mud walls glowing at dusk.
Living Silk Road museum-city.
Three grand madrasas on one square.
A skyline of 2,500-year-old gingerbread tower houses with white gypsum trim, one of the oldest cities in the world.
Swahili island town of donkeys, dhows and carved doorways.
Great Mud Mosque town, UNESCO-listed.
One of Islam’s oldest and grandest mosques, glittering with gold mosaics.
Ancient city of the Patriarchs.
Al-Balad’s coral-stone merchant houses with carved wooden balconies, a UNESCO gateway for centuries of Mecca pilgrims.
One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities: the Umayyad Mosque, Straight Street and the Souq al-Hamidiyah.
Pyramidal earthen tomb of the Songhai emperor, bristling with wooden stakes.
Ninth-century mosque with the spiralling Malwiya minaret.
15th-century mosque at Bagerhat, UNESCO-listed.
Ancient Islamic city of 82 mosques, where hyenas are fed by hand at night.
Labyrinthine Swahili trading town of carved doors and spice bazaars.
Ancient fortified towns of the Mzab.
Remote 65-metre brick minaret, alone in a river gorge since the 12th century.
Medieval quarter of a thousand minarets: the Khan el-Khalili bazaar, Al-Azhar mosque and the Sultan Hassan madrasa.
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