 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 April 2000 Issue No. 478 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 April 2000 Issue No. 478
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Heritage Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Old Cairo's new look
By Nevine El-ArefEarly this week, Mrs Suzanne Mubarak and Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni inaugurated the newly-restored Haret Al-Darb Al-Asfar, a pedestrian district off the famous Al-Mu'izz Lidin Allah street in Fatimid Cairo and the site of active restoration and refurbishment in recent years.
Among the private residences, workshops and bazaars that make up the area lie three historical houses -- Beit Al-Suhaymi, Beit Mustafa Gaafar and Beit El-Khurazati -- as well as the Sabil Qitas (a water fountain). But like many other areas in medieval Cairo, Haret El-Dar El-Asfar had suffered badly from damage caused by overcrowded conditions, pollution, subsoil water and, more recently, the 1992 earthquake. Poor restorations during the Ottoman period and earlier this century probably caused more harm than if the monuments had been left untouched.
Visitors to the traditionally colourful and busy alleyway will immediately see a difference. All historic buildings, residences and workshops have been restored and repainted, and decorative mashrabiya(woodwork) now gleams. Even the street leading to the historic zone is paved in white marble.
The completion of renovations at Haret Al-Darb Al-Asfar is the first phase of a much larger undertaking to rehabilitate Old Cairo. According to Ayman Abdel-Moneim, head of Documentation Centre for Islamic Monuments, the overall project will take in Al-Gamaliya district, Al-Mu'izz Lidin Allah street, Al-Darb Al-Ahmar, Al-Azhar area and Al-Sayeda Zeinab district. The buildings and adjoining streets between Bab Al-Futouh and Bab Zuweila will be restored "to their original Islamic setting."
Abdel-Moneim says that there are 175 Islamic monuments in historic Cairo, 138 of which come under the control of the Ministry of Endowments (Al-Awqaf). The Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) is responsible for another 30, and the remaining seven are private properties.
In addition, there are 48 magnificent medieval buildings that have not yet been registered as historic monuments, but are in dire need of protection, restoration and conservation. These include mosques, sabil-kuttab (public fountain with a primary school attached), sabils (public fountains) and beits (houses), some of which were restored earlier and converted into a cultural centres.
Of the newly-restored houses, the biggest and most charming is Beit Al-Suhaymi. Covering some 2,000 square metres, the five-floor house has a total of 115 halls and chambers surrounding a main court, itself more than 200 square metres. Another open area contains a water-wheel and grinding mill, typical elements of a medieval Cairene house. The interior is lavishly decorated with wooden ceilings and floors of coloured marble and doors and cabinets that demonstrate the splendid art of interlocking woodwork.
Other houses in the district, smaller than that of Al-Suhaymi, were occupied by traders and used as storerooms or private residences for people whose houses had been demolished. Individuals who lived in the residences let them fall into disrepair and neglected to upkeep the inner areas. By the time restorations began, conditions were abominable.
Beit Al-Khurazati, for example, was inhabited by 30 families whose houses had collapsed or became hazardous following the earthquake of 1992. When restoration teams set out to work on the house, it was "a mess," noted Abdallah El-Attar, head of the Islamic and Coptic department at the SCA. Decorations on the ceilings were obscured by smoke, cracks were found throughout the walls and most of the flooring was broken.
El-Attar explained that former residents had changed the house's interior to accommodate both a residential area and a workshop at the same time. All these families have been transferred into private apartments in the Dar Al-Salam area. The first floor of Beit Al-Suhaymi will be converted into a cultural arts centre, like that of the house of Zeinab Khatun. The rest of the building will serve as a museum displaying residential life in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Minister Hosni has stressed that restoration in the Haret Al-Darb Al-Asfar district has not been executed haphazardly. The project followed advance in-depth studies conducted by restoration experts and university professors since 1994.
Haret Al-Darb Al-Asfar following renovation work
photo: Mohamed El-Qi'i
Assad Nadim, assistant director of the restoration project said that actual work started in March 1996, when the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) granted LE15 million for the renovation of Beit Al-Suhaymi. "But a few months after the restoration started, we found that in order to protect the Al-Suhaymi house, we needed to restore the whole district of Al-Darb Al-Asfar," Nadim said.
The AFESD consequently financed a project for the restoration of the whole area. A new drainage system was installed and protection layers were provided to prevent water leakage that causes deterioration of the monuments.
Each stage of restoration in the district has been documented. "There are more than 25,000 photographs and slides and 40 hours of Betacam video showing the monuments before and after restoration," Nadim said.
Before the beit restorations began, all wooden doors and delicate architectural elements were documented, packed, and temporarily stored in the backyard of Beit Al-Suhaymi, which was ventilated daily.
"All the work has been carried out according to the latest technology, which provides sound scientific restoration without damaging monuments or changing their original features," said Gaballa Ali Gaballa, general secretary of the SCA.
Part of the project was to develop social awareness among the district's inhabitants. Salma El-Ghandur, responsible for public relations, explained that meetings for the district inhabitants were held regularly during the period of restoration to explain the importance of living beside a monument like Beit Al-Suhaymi. An NGO (non-governmental organisation) was organised by inhabitants to protect and preserve their district.
Restoration teams have sought to retain the character of the area and protect its Islamic heritage, but not all are satisfied with the new look of Haret Al-Darb Al-Asfar district. Work has been aimed at providing visitors with an overview of the development of Islamic architecture and social life from the Fatimid period through to the Ottoman era, but some people claim the refurbishments have erased the area's original flavour.
Ahmed Abdel-Alla, an engineer and inhabitant of the area, feels that it has "lost its old Islamic image." Pedestrians "will never again smell the aroma of our heritage," he said, noting that old houses have been painted up to look like "any modern building."
"New mashrabiya have been placed in the windows, new lamps installed -- the very street resembles the lobby of a new hotel," Abdel-Alla said. "When walking around I feel myself to be in an imitation studio, like the City of Media Production in 6 October City. This is not my own point of view alone; both inhabitants and visitors have said the same thing."
Pierre Guerland, a French tourist who comes to Egypt annually "to walk around Islamic Cairo, admire its old buildings and contact its people," expressed both admiration and regret regarding the refurbishment of Al-Darb Al-Asfar district. "[It] is very good for people who are living in the area, but the beits and the sabil have lost their old image; they look like new ones," he said. "Tourists love to see the holes in every block of stone in a monument; its grey colour reflects the age of the building."
Artisans and workers in the area have perhaps been the most affected by the restoration project, but the Ministry of Culture is determined to maintain as many of them in their original locations as possible.
"Such an area without skilled craftsmen would be a desert," Hosni said, explaining that skilled workers and their handicrafts "give a vivid atmosphere to the area."
As regards factories that adversely affect the monuments in the area -- like the traditional pickle factory, and the aluminium factory, which dumps its industrial waste along building walls -- workers have been encouraged to change their activities. Hosni said that the government is ready to help them in new endeavours, offering training courses, if necessary, as well as materials for a new business. For trades that cannot be converted in a "manner harmonising with the area," factories will be transferred to a different location.
