The unique artistic and architectural heritage of the city of Cairo provides the Islamic Art and Architecture program of AUC in Cairo with an incomparable base of monuments and works of art for study and analysis. But AUC's Islamic Art and Architecture Program has earned an international reputation in its own right as an outstanding center for the study of the arts and crafts of not just Egypt but the entire Islamic world.

The program was established nearly half a century ago by one of the great early figures in the study of Islamic art and architecture, Sir Archibald K.A.C. Creswell. His incomparable private collection of books and manuscripts now serves as the crown jewel of AUC's Rare Books Library. The current faculty of the program offers AUC students a wide range of courses covering the arts of all parts of the Islamic world and all periods of Islamic history.