Copper trays stacked three metres high rest against walls that predate the Ottoman conquest. Khan El Khalili occupies the site of the Fatimid-era royal mausoleums, demolished in 1382 by Emir Djaharks el-Khalili to construct a caravanserai for visiting merchants. That original khan survives in fragmentary archways along Sikket Khan el-Khalili Street, where Mamluk stonework frames modern jewellery workshops. The bazaar's current labyrinth spans fourteen hectares between Al-Muizz Street and Al-Azhar Street, forming Cairo's densest concentration of Islamic-era commercial architecture. The district's economic logic remains unchanged since the fourteenth century. Gold merchants cluster along Al-Muski Street, where shop windows display twenty-one-carat Egyptian hallmarks under fluorescent light. Perfume distillers operate from stone alcoves on Shari'a al-Badestan, blending lotus and amber oils in glass flasks cooled by overhead fans. Textile vendors occupy the northern lanes, selling galabeyas and hand-blocked cotton beside workshops where wooden printing blocks hang from iron pegs. The concentration of trades by street follows medieval guild divisions, a spatial organization preserved through Ottoman rule and the British protectorate. A khan el khalili bazaar tour reveals the district's architectural layering. Qasr al-Shuq gate, built in 1010, marks the southern boundary where Fatimid city walls enclosed royal palaces. Mamluk-era sabils—public fountains with Quranic schools on upper floors—punctuate the major intersections, their striped ablaq masonry contrasting with plain Fatimid limestone. Ottoman-period wikalahs, multi-story merchant hotels with central courtyards, line Sikket el-Badestan, though most ground floors now house cafés serving mint tea in tulip-shaped glasses. Wikala al-Ghuri, completed in 1504, operates as a cultural centre where the upper galleries overlook a stone courtyard once used for camel unloading. The market's modern revival accelerated after 1952, when the new government promoted domestic tourism to historic sites. Daily visitor counts average eight thousand during weekdays, rising to fifteen thousand on Fridays when regional shoppers arrive by metro. Artisan workshops occupy the quieter eastern lanes, where coppersmiths shape water jugs using techniques documented in fifteenth-century Mamluk manuals. The tang of soldering flux mixes with cardamom smoke from street vendors grilling corn beside the Al-Hussein Mosque's western wall, where evening crowds gather as call-to-prayer amplifiers crackle across the stone façades.