The central conundrum of fatimid art the art produced by the ismaili dynasty which ruled egypt from 969 to 1171 but whose cultural sphere of influence was chronologically and geographically much broader as jonathan bloom shows us in his new book is the imbalance on the one hand between the wealth of extant religious architecture versus the tiny fragments of palace architecture and . Arts of the city victorious is the first book length study of the art and architecture produced under the fatimids the ismaili shii dynasty that ruled in north africa and egypt from 909 to 1171 ce the fatimids are famous for founding the city of al qahira the victorious whence the name cairo in 969 ce and their art particularly textiles . This is the first book length study of the art and architecture of the fatimids the ismaili shii dynasty that ruled in north africa and egypt from 909 to 1171 the fatimids are most famous for. Arts of the city victorious islamic art and architecture in fatimid north africa and egypt by jonathan m bloom new haven yale university press in association with the institute of ismaili studies 2007 pp xviii 236 illus 75. Stanford libraries official online search tool for books media journals databases government documents and more