The school and dome of Najm al-Din Ayoub or Al-Salihiya School is one of the most famous ancient buildings in Cairo. It was built in the year 641 AH corresponding to 1243-1244 AD. This school was established by Al-Salih Najm Al-Din Ayyub, seventh of the Crown Prince of Egypt from the sultans of the Ayyubid state. He built it on a part of the area occupied by the great Fatimid palace and completed it in the year 641 AH corresponding to 1243/44 AD. It consisted of two buildings, one of them tribal.

Its features have been lost and its place has been occupied by modern buildings, and the second is a marine, of which only its western iwan is left, which is covered by a vaulted vault. Which is in the middle of the destination is topped by the minaret.

This facade still retains its architectural details, as it is divided to the right and left of the entrance into a few rows of caves, the bottom of which are windows covered by lintels.

Here, for the first time in this destination, the phenomenon of opening lower windows appears to us, after it was seen in the highest destinations in the advanced mosques, such as the Amr Ibn Al-Aas Mosque, the Ahmed Ibn Tulun Mosque, and others. He was concerned with the decoration and beautification of the entrance, so he took many of its decorative elements from the collectors of Al-Aqmar and Al-Salih Tala’i’ collectors, and wrote in the middle of the muqarnas arch above the door, the date of construction in 641 AH.

As for the minaret, it begins at the top of the entrance as a square to the cycle, then octagonal, its faces adorned with rows covered with arches, through which openings are opened with arches in the form of vegetal leaves. The octagon is covered by a ribbed dome whose base is adorned with slots in the form of plant leaves, also topped by prominent gears.

This minaret represents the style of most of the minarets that were built in the late seventh and early eighth centuries AH - the thirteenth and early fourteenth century AD - before it developed into its familiar style that prevailed and spread in Egypt after that.