11 - 17 January 2001
Issue No.516
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 11 - 17 January 2001 Issue No.516 |
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The pick and the stone
A reception at the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale (IFAO) is an occasion for foreign and Egyptians historians, archaeologists and architects involved in preservation and restoration, to meet and exchange superficial and amiable tidbits about their work. Nothing of consequence, but enough to indicate progress, success or difficulties. On such occasions, Mohamed Abul-Amayem, a researcher with the institute, is usually seen milling about, listening anxiously to the apparently inconsequential banter. "He is obsessed with his love of old monuments," another researcher at the IFAO confides. Most of Abul-Amayem's free time is spent walking the streets of Cairo or traveling across the country, surveying Pharaonic, Coptic, Islamic or simply old monuments, noticing new damage, downright destruction, or faulty restorations; he will regularly call or fax the concerned ministries and the media to convey the information, albeit with little success. He spares no effort to alert public opinion, yet the devastation continues, with voices few and far between, if any, raised in defence of Egypt's heritage.
photo: Al-Ahram Archives
RESTORATION COMEDY: Work at Bab Al-Nasr could be doing more harm than good. Are simple repairs using modern construction materials sufficient to counteract continuing damage from groundwater and pollution? Or will Victory Gate be conquered in its turn?
Last month, at one of the IFAO gatherings, I observed Abul-Amayem making a beeline in my direction. "Go see what is going on at Bab Al-Nasr," he whispered. Typically, he would say no more.
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Bab Al-Nasr (The Gate of Victory) is at the northeastern limit of the old city of Al-Qahira. This gate, with Bab Al-Futuh, the wall in between, approximately 170 metres of wall beyond, and Bab Zuweila to the southeast, are all that remains of the stone walls of the city built by the Armenian Badr Al-Gamali in 1087-92. Al-Gamali was governor of Acre in 1074 when the Fatimid caliph, Al-Mustansir, called him to put down the revolt of the Turkish military commanders and their troops. After summarily executing the rebels, Al-Gamali's first task was to reinforce the defences of Al-Qahira and rebuild Gawhar's brick wall, which had collapsed. He brought over the Armenian architect John the Monk and his two brothers to supervise the work. They enlarged the enclosure on all sides, working in stone, and added another gate to the already existing seven. Only the three we know today have remained, however.
The walls and gates are superb examples of military architecture, equaled only by a comparable construction in Diyarbakir in Turkey. The most important innovation was the use, for the first time in Egypt's Islamic era, of stone instead of bricks, allowing for completely new decorative features such as the cushioned voussoirs and domes on pendentives to adorn the gates.
The present Bab Al-Nasr replaced the original one, built by Gawhar a little to the south; Badr named it Bab Al-Izz (Gate of Glory) but the habit of the people prevailed and its name was never actually changed.
As with the other towers of the northern wall, Napoleon installed his troops in Bab Al-Nasr, naming the eastern tower Tour Corbin and the western one Tour Julien, after two of his aides-de-camp.
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A few days later, with photographer Sherif Sonbol, we proceeded towards Bab Al-Nasr. It was a Sunday morning and the area was relatively quiet, allowing us to drive past the gate slowly, and even stop for a moment to watch a couple of youths, armed with picks and hammers, vigorously banging away at the stones of the arch's inside wall. We had just enough time for Sherif to capture the work in progress on camera and for me to read the large billboard announcing that restoration of the gate had been entrusted to the Wadi Al-Nil contracting company, before we were asked to move on. A couple of men of questionable authority waved us away, shouting that it was forbidden to take photos. Did we have a permit from the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), one of the men who looked like a supervisor demanded. We decided not to answer and drove away, but not before having taken note of the new white stone slabs that recently became the trademark of most restoration work on Cairo's Islamic monuments. Meanwhile, the workers were unceremoniously pulling out the loosened old stones, letting them drop to the ground below, where many shattered in two or three pieces.
Sherif knew an old hand at the SCA, an antiquities inspector, who told him that Bab Al-Nasr was being ruined, but would not talk to journalists. He needed his job and had no intention of jeopardising his position by blabbing to the press, he explained.
Back at the office, I called Bernard Maury, an expert in restoration with the SCA. He listened in silence. "There are many techniques to restore old monuments," he finally said, rather vaguely. "You saw the work we did in Beit Al-Sennari, how every stone was carefully loosened, the accumulated salts brushed off its surface, the stone put to dry and then replaced in its position, using the same or a similar binding material as the original whenever possible. Compare the methods and draw your own conclusions," he advised. Maury, however, adamantly refused to say more, claiming that he could not advance an opinion since he had not seen the damage -- if any -- nor studied the restoration procedures in question.
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Cairo has an incredible wealth of Islamic monuments from all periods and styles, and mediaeval Cairo has been designated as a World Heritage District. Although it is a well known principle that it is unwise to attempt the restoration of monuments as discrete entities, the lack of an overall plan (due mainly to the absence of financial resources allowing the SCA to face such a mammoth task) has forced the main actors of the general restoration scheme to settle for piecemeal projects. International interest in Cairo's monuments has produced mixed results, with excellent work produced by expert groups working in coordination with the SCA as well as the intervention of non-specialists who regard the restoration of an ancient monument as any other profit-making contract. A senior engineer with a renowned building contractors' company told me once, as I was expressing reservations about the quantity of new white marble used on the façade of a mosque in Al-Mu'izz Street: "A building is a building. There are no two ways of going about repairing it. Do you think that they fussed so much about their buildings in the old days? A mosque is a place of prayer and we are making it functional. What else do you want?" He wished to remain anonymous, however. I wonder if the same engineer is not supervising the work being done presently at Bab Al-Nasr.
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