FACTBOX - Obama and facts about Cairo's old Islamic quarter

(Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama addresses the Muslim world on Thursday from the Egyptian capital Cairo, which has an Islamic quarter filled with architectural treasures.

Following are some facts about Cairo's Islamic quarter:

* AL AZHAR MOSQUE AND UNIVERSITY

-- Al-Azhar mosque and university, hosting Obama's visit, is Egypt's main seat of Sunni learning. Lying in the heart of the Islamic quarter, it is close to the crowded alleys of the Khan el-Khalili tourist bazaar where a French visitor was killed in February in an attack Egypt blamed on al Qaeda-linked militants.

-- Al-Azhar is headed by Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, who was appointed by Egypt's president, and is mainly state funded. It has traditionally been used by the state to counter the political call of Islamists like the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

-- The mosque was completed in 972 in the era of the Fatimids who are credited with founding the modern city of Cairo. The city's Arabic name Al-Qahira means "the victorious city."

-- Like many old monuments in the quarter, al-Azhar mosque has been damaged by mounting pollution and a rising water table. Al-Azhar and some other monuments have been renovated, but many are still in need of repair.

* OTHER ISLAMIC MONUMENTS

-- Two of the grandest Islamic monuments, with soaring ceilings, are the Sultan Hassan and Al-Rifai mosques, which stand beneath Cairo's citadel and near the 'City of the Dead', a burial place where many tombs have been turned into homes.