Historically, the street was referred to as the
Qasaba (a word of variable usage in Arabic, but in this case referring to a central part of the city), and constituted the main urban axis of economic and religious life in Cairo. The city was located northeast of
Fustat, the existing capital and main city of Egypt. Jawhar organized the city so that
two great palaces for the caliphs were at its center, while between them was an important plaza known as
Bayn al-Qasrayn ("Between the Two Palaces"). The city's main street connected its northern and southern gates and passed between the palaces via Bayn al-Qasrayn. In this period of the city's history, however, Cairo was a restricted city accessible only to the caliph, the army, state officials, and other persons required for the palace-city's functioning. New royally-sponsored buildings continued to be built even in the 19th century under
Muhammad Ali Pasha and his successors. In the 20th century, the construction of a major bypass road known as al-Azhar street, running from modern
downtown Cairo in the west to
al-Azhar and then later to the Salah Salem highway in the east, created a major interruption in the traditional path of al-Muizz street. Today, the old city is, to some extent, split into two by this major road cutting across the former urban fabric, passing between the
Khan al-Khalili area and the 16th-century
Sultan al-Ghuri complex. ==Historical buildings of Muizz Street==