Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 June 2000 Issue No. 485
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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Thanking Princess Fatma

By Gihan Shahine

One would hardly expect to see a painting of Mohamed Ali Pasha hanging on a wall in the Ministry of Agriculture, or a 19th-century statue gazing majestically down one of its corridors.

Still, that is exactly what visitors to the ministry have been seeing for some time now. In the aftermath of the 1952 Revolution, all the edifices belonging to the royal family and their descendants were confiscated and turned into presidential residences, public institutions, hospitals, embassies and schools, while their valuable possessions were stolen, ruined or piled up in the dark oblivion of storehouses.

Recently, however, as the destruction of old palaces and villas proceeded apace, some Egyptians, perhaps bitten by a heritage bug, have been calling for the preservation of the country's architectural and historical wealth. NGOs have been formed for the purpose and the Ministry of Culture has established a department for the registration and preservation of 19th- and early 20th-century villas. The recent opening of Beit Al-Suhaymi capped the ministry's efforts to turn a series of old villas and palaces into museums. The museums of Taha Hussein, Ahmed Shawqi, Mohamed Nagi, and Mahmoud Khalil are other cases in point.

But it seems the Ministry of Culture is no longer the only "official guardian" of Egypt's architectural heritage. Surprisingly, the Minister of Agriculture has decided to lend a hand -- despite Minister Youssef Wali's large portfolio.

In addition to the ministry's four agricultural museums, it has restored two villas that were once the royal abodes of Princess Fatma, the daughter of Khedive Ismail, and turned them into museums. One is now the museum of "scientific collections." But it is the second, the museum of "rare possessions," that is likely to be a real cultural bonanza. The two-storey museum, to be opened soon, houses over 500 rare pieces of art, dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The museum is the brainchild of Mohamed El-Aqqad, general supervisor of museums at the ministry of agriculture. An art aficionado and amateur artist himself, El-Aqqad has long dreamed of creating a museum similar to the establishments he visited on his European tour.

His chance came when he was appointed to the Ministry of Agriculture in 1988, and asked to implement an ambitious "museum city" plan. El-Aqqad was responsible for developing and expanding the original Agricultural Museum, built in 1938, and establishing two others, featuring the history of Egyptian cotton, agrarian tools and peasant's life, on its 30-feddan grounds.

"Then I realised that the ministry owns a large collection of valuable items that once belonged to the royal family: paintings, furniture, statues, carpets and a variable collection of antiques. These were crammed in storehouses, scattered about and misused in offices," El-Aqqad recounts. "For long years, ministry officials have walked on rare carpets and sat on magnificent arabesque settees."

With the full support of the minister of agriculture, he went on a mission to collect the valuable antiques from storehouses and offices "before they were all gone and ruined."

But it was Fatma Ismail who inspired his idea of establishing a museum where he could exhibit this valuable collection.

"It is here that Fatma Ismail lived and died," El-Aqqad recounts as we head to the new museum for a visit.

Princess Fatma (1853-1920) was renowned for her kindness and benevolence. When the idea of establishing the Egyptian University (later Fouad I and currently Cairo University) was first presented in 1907, the lack of funds impeded the realisation of the project. It was only thanks to the substantial contribution of Princess Fatma, nicknamed Umm Al-Muhsinin (the mother of the benevolent) that the project ultimately saw the light. Princess Fatma donated all her jewellery, as well as six feddans adjacent to her villa, where the current Ministry of Agriculture stands, to the university. In 1914, the foundation stone was laid and a gala held in Princess Fatma's honour, attended by Khedive Abbas Helmi, Prince Ahmed Fouad and the princess herself. Princess Fatma then dedicated the revenue from 658 feddans of her land to be spent on the university. No wonder her name was inscribed on a memorial at Cairo University.

"Turning her villa into a museum is the least we can do to commemorate Princess Fatma," El-Aqqad says. "We want our children to learn about this great lady, who also provides an example for both tourists and locals of different backgrounds."

In 1996, El-Aqqad started the restoration of the villa, which was decrepit from long years of neglect. The villa was occupied by ministry officials' offices on the first floor; the former head of the Agricultural Museum resided on the second.

"The villa was evacuated and restored by a team of professionals," El-Aqqad proceeds. Meanwhile, artists were busy doing the fine restoration work of the items on show.

Today, workers are putting the final touches to the museum. "The outcome is more than rewarding. You are not going to believe your eyes when you see the treasure [we] have had for so long, and to which we paid so little attention," El-Aqqad boasts as we start the grand tour.

The villa's façade does not give away the secrets of its richer interior. Inside, photographer Khaled El-Fiqi is swept away. "I can't believe we have such valuable things," he exclaims excitedly. "It reminds me of the Louvre."

While the very mention of the royal family was once taboo, its legacy is being brought out and dusted off as Egyptians evince new interest in 19th- and early 20th-century history photos: Khaled El-Fiqi

At the entrance, El-Aqqad scurries away to turn on the lights: an ensemble of shell-encrusted arabesque materialises, bathed in indirect lighting designed to highlight the beauty of the woodwork. The hall is dotted with an array of peasants' implements.

Nearby is a rare collection of turn-of-the-century carpets featuring delicate designs, and an embroidered Ka'ba cover, dating back to 1937, hangs on the wall of an adjacent corridor.

The museum is a feast of colours, featuring a large variety of paintings by early 20th-century painters: Hosni El-Bannani, Ali El-Dib, Amelio Datorno Casanato, Hidayet, Mahmoud Said, Mohamed Sabri, Roger Breval, Youssef Kamel...

A large portrait of Mohamed Ali Pasha dominates the "royal room," which is also home to portraits of Sultan Hussein Kamel, King Fouad, King Farouk, and Khedive Abbas Helmi.

In a room off the main hall, there are two portraits of Princess Fatma: one shows a radiant young teenager, while in the other the princess has the elegance and confidence of a mature and dignified woman.

But the museum is not just about royalty. It features 30 statues of Egyptian figures from very different social backgrounds. Nor can a first-time visitor fail to notice the statues of Roman maidens dressed to symbolise the four seasons.

For the photographer, however, the most intriguing part of the museum is that housing the display of early 20th-century cameras, the exhibition that shows the development of photo processing, and a rare display of black and white photos of Hassan Fathi's architecture.

On the roof terrace of the 21-room museum, a Roman-style garden -- the first of its kind in Egypt -- is nearing completion, with pillars and mosaic statues.

"We have used the latest technology in the construction and organisation of the museum: closed-circuit cameras and the most advanced climate control, lighting, sound and security systems," El-Aqqad maintains. He further prides himself on the fact that the museum "is the fruit of purely Egyptian efforts; no foreign assistance has been used."

On our way out, we meet an Egyptian sculptor working in the serene seclusion of the museum's workshop. Cecil Massoud is putting the final touches on a statue of Khedive Ismail and a copy of another figure of national leader Ahmed Orabi. (The original, also made by Massoud, stands in a square in Argentina.)

"I'm glad to be working [here]," Massoud says, matter-of-factly. "Our supervisors care about art and artists, and it was a real pleasure restoring the valuable antiques that we have on show."

One, however, would expect the Ministry of Culture to assume this role instead. Why is the Ministry of Agriculture paying such close attention to art and history?

"Simply because we own this unique collection, besides the fact that two of Princess Fatma's edifices are now the ministry's," El-Aqqad explains. "I would regard our role as complementary to that of the Ministry of Culture. After all, this is Egyptian history we are preserving."

A museum, however, cannot do much good in the absence of visitors. On the day of our visit, only a few people venture into the adjacent agricultural museums: a handful of art students searching for inspiration, a class of young schoolchildren on a field trip, and a few trysting sweethearts on the benches of the museum gardens, gazing hypnotically into each other's eyes.

Is the ministry doing enough to publicise its work? "The original Agricultural Museum has been on the tourist map since its construction in 1938 and we have been publishing a number of stories about the new ones," El-Aqqad says. "Still, the problem is that Egyptians are not very interested in museums in general. Take school trips, for example. We can receive 200 students daily for free, but they do not benefit as they should because teachers do not provide enough guidance. We always ask teachers to come and get information before the trip, but in vain."

Still, El-Aqqad is hopeful the new museum will attract many local as well as foreign visitors. "After all, Beit Al-Suhaymi has been in the spotlight, Mrs Mubarak is encouraging the restoration of old houses and more people are coming to realise the importance of museums."

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