Under Mamluk Rule, Egypt, Palestine and Syria enjoyed a tremendous economic, cultural, intellectual and artistic revival that was centred primarily in the urban centres of Cairo, Damascus and Jerusalem. Cairo, the Mamluk capital, was celebrated as the ‘Metropolis of the Universe’ and the ‘Garden of the World’. It was the largest metropolitan centre in the world at the time, and one of the wealthiest cities in the Near East, providing a centre for intellectuals, scholars, scientists, artisans and traders.