Urban Activity of the Fatimids in the Levant Through the Books of Al Buldanyun Geographers and travelers

Abstract

The Fatimids were interested in the religious and civil construction facilities in the cities of the Levant, and the construction of religious facilities occupied the first place of their urban interests because this field was linked to the nature of the emergence of the Fatimid ideological state, so this field gained a distinguished place among the Fatimid caliphs. The urban field was not limited to the addition of urban units to these facilities, but it is called that due to their keenness on the sustainability of these facilities to preserve their distinctive architectural splendor and this is what was found in their contributions for the continuity of Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Dome of the Rock, and other architectural facilities. The research problem was manifested in the overlap of this activity with other aspects such as the political and economic committees in the previous studies and the failure to shed light on the urban activity of the Fatimids in the cities of the Levant in that era. This research aimed to highlight the Fatimid architectural imprint in the cities of the Levant, and in particular, in the books of travelers and the countrymen in their importance, as they wrote down most of their observations and sayings of those they met during their travels in those countries and their codification of some of the writings of other authors.