'Remarkable' restoration
After decades of negligence, Alexandria's exquisite European-style Sayed Darwish Theatre has been restored. Nevine El-Aref took a look
Those who yearn for the elegant aura of the concerts of yore may soon get a chance to relive them. Alexandria's newly restored Sayed Darwish theatre will be officially inaugurated by President Hosni Mubarak late next month.
The theatre, located near Al-Raml station in Alexandria's city centre, is housed in an attractive 2568-square- metre, three-storey building that includes a large stage and a domed, highly decorative 1200-seat auditorium.
Built in 1921, the theatre was meant to evoke the Vienna Opera House. Originally named the Mohamed Ali Theatre, it became Alexandria's premiere venue, hosting renowned Arab and foreign singers and the occasional classic play.
After the 1952 Revolution, the venue was renamed Sayed Darwish Theatre in commemoration of one of Arab music's pioneers. Darwish led the early 20th century cultural renaissance that swept Egypt; he was also the bard of the 1919 Revolution.
In 2000, the Ministry of Culture decided to place the dilapidated building -- which was suffering from both negligence and previously shoddy restorative efforts -- on Egypt's Heritage List. At that point, the painstaking and extensive current restoration project began. According to Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, it has not been an easy task. "In the absence of any genuine documents that might provide us with a picture of what the theatre originally looked like," Hosni told Al-Ahram Weekly, "it was quite difficult to restore the building back to its original elegance and convert it into a modern opera house at the same time."
One of the major problems involved removing the flawed restoration efforts that were actually harming -- and hiding -- the building's magnificent interior design. A tour of several European theatres and opera houses built by the same architect at around the same time helped the new restoration team document the typical interior colours and designs of the decorative items in these theatres, which could then be compared with those in the Darwish theatre. "Restoring the theatre was a true challenge," said Ayman Abdel-Moneim, the archaeologist heading the restoration team. He described the process as being "very sensitive and critical". In fact, the LE23 million project was carried out over three phases. The first began 15 months ago and involved consolidating the building's walls and foundations with concrete injections similar to those used in its original construction. All the internal and external structures that were superfluous to the original design were then carefully removed.
The second phase involved restoring and polishing the decorative items attached to the theatre's ceilings and walls. Abdel-Moneim said that because these decorations "were made of very fragile gypsum, this was the most crucial part of the restoration process."
Patience and passion, said Abdel- Moneim, were the keys to the project's success.
The third and final phase involved the instalation of the state-of-the art equipment necessary for operating a world-quality opera house. Again, the problem involved outfitting the theatre with the necessary modern ventilation, lighting and sound systems without disturbing its authentic features. A hidden space was created beneath the theatre's auditorium for air conditioning, lighting and sound cables. The stage itself was also too fragile to withstand the heavy modern equipment necessary for rapid and effective transformations of stage backdrops. Abdel-Moneim said this was handled by "building a new wooden stage on top of the original one, but with separate foundations". The theatre's old wooden seats have also been replaced with shiny and elegant new ones.
Hosni described the renovation as "remarkable and miraculous". He said the theatre would be officially inaugurated by the end of November
