Shajar al-Durr's tomb completed in Cairo

1275

A decade after her gruesome murder by fellow wives with wooden shoes, the former Mamluk sultana Shajar al-Durr, the tree of pearls, received a final burial under a domed madrasa in Cairo's old quarter. Her mosaic mihrab shows her name in Kufic, a rare public female signature. Her brief reign as sultan remains unique in medieval Islamic history, a woman who ruled Egypt in her own name.