Best Get-Away in the Center of Cairo… Need a break from the dust, dirt and crowds? Make a trip to Al-Azhar Park on the east side of Cairo (behind Al-Azhar Mosque) to regain your sanity and enjoy stunning views over old Cairo! Built a few years ago under the sponsorship of the Agha Kahn Foundation, this is one of most beautiful spots in Cairo and certainly one of the most peaceful (peaceful is not a word normally used with deafening Cairo, but this place is the exception). It is about a 25 minute walk from Al Azhar Mosque near the bazaar to the entrance to the park (the entrance is on the eastern backside of the park away from the mosque, unfortunately, although a new development should add a more convenient entrance on the northwestern side nearer to the mosque in a few years). The walk is not that bad, passing the hospital behind Al Azhar and then along the ring road (with a sidewalk) alongside the Northern Cemetery, but is not particularly pleasant and might be off-putting to new visitors to Cairo. Until the new entrance plaza is done, I would recommend a cab ride to get to the entrance - only a couple US$ from Al Azhar Mosque of the bazaar and not much more from other parts of central Cairo. There is a modest entrance fee to the park (less than US$1) and once through the gates you enter a beautiful world of gardens, strolling paths, observation areas, three beautiful restaurants (although no beer/liquor served) and a very nice kids playground (maintained to western standards). The entrance fee has the benefit of providing funds for park maintenance and, for better and worse, limiting attendance. While US$1 is not much for large numbers of Cairo residents in the growing middle and upper class, it is far too much for the many poor who reside within a few kilometers of the park (who need the park more than anyone, I would say). It is too hot in the summer during the day to do much strolling (there is not much shade on the paths), but it is a delight after the sun goes down for a summer evening stroll or dinner in one of its restaurants. During the spring, autumn or winter, this would be a delightful place during both days and evenings. Kids will absolutely love the playground after a day of sightseeing. I can't recommend this place enough - and this park is now near the top of my list of "must visits" in Cairo once you get through the more obvious sites like the Pyramids, museum, and major mosques. The park is still undiscovered by tourists. On a two hour visit to the park on an August evening, I saw only two other western tourists amid the hundreds of Egyptians and other Middle Eastern visitors. For the foreign visitor, it is a good place to meet members of the Egyptian middle class. See the Past, in the Future! Located in the heart of old historic Cairo and commanding stunning panoramic views of the world's most intriguing city, Al-Azhar Park offers every visitor a glimpse into the captivating past. Lush green landscaped gardens are an enjoyable sojourn away from city's major tourist attractions. Embracing valuable history, the park is home to the newly discovered Ayyubid wall, constructed by Salah El-Din more than 800 years ago. Enjoy exotic settings, reminiscent of ancient times gone by. A variety of unique cafes and restaurants that offer 5 star services, were built and thoughtfully positioned for visitors to appreciate the most dramatic views of Cairo. In perfect venues for private functions, you can create your own history! The creation of the 30-hectare (74-acre) Al-Azhar park was undertaken by the Agha Khan Trust for Culture. The project was designed as an agent for economic development, and has become a case study for creative solutions to a spectrum of challenges facing historic cities, including ecological rehabilitation. The project includes the excavation and extensive restoration of the 12th Century Ayyubid wall and the rehabilitation of important monuments and landmark buildings in the Historic City. It also encompasses an extensive social development program, including apprenticeship arrangements, housing rehabilitation, micro-credit and health care facilities. History The origins of Al-Azhar Park project date to 1984, when the Agha Khan Award for Architecture organized a conference on the subject of ‘The Expanding Metropolis: Coping with the Urban Growth of Cairo. At that time, the city was confronted by the array of contemporary development challenges faced by many cities, not least population pressures, a decline in the quality of housing and the attendant problems these conditions create. Despite these challenges, the question of how to reconcile conservation and development was a fairly new one. It was clear that Cairo needed more green space. One study found that the amount of green space per inhabitant was roughly equivalent to the size of a footprint. It is one of the lowest proportions in the world. It was on the occasion of the conference that His Highness the Agha Khan announced his decision to finance the creation of a park for the citizens of the Egyptian capital. The only central location which was of suitable scale and which lent itself to rehabilitation was the derelict Darassa site, a 30-hectare (74 acre), 500-year-old mound of rubble in the inner city, between the eastern edge of the 12th Century Ayyubid city and the 15th Century Mamluk “City of the Dead”. While the neighbouring district of Darb al-Ahmar was poor, it featured one of the richest Islamic art and architecture in the world. The challenge was to revitalize this heritage in ways that turned traditional notions about cultural monuments on their head - that rather than being a drain on resources, they could be a stimulus for social and economic development. The Park project was therefore intended to be a case study for a variety of development challenges, ranging from environmental rehabilitation to cultural restoration. The objective was to create models of development that could be replicated in many other settings, and in particular in the historic cities of the Islamic world. Almost one-third of historic cities on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites are in the Islamic World. Many face pressures similar to those of Cairo. When the city of Cairo was rebuilt and laid out by the Fatimids in 969–974 (358–363 Hijri), and named al-Qahira (“the victorious”), 20 percent of it – roughly 30 hectares – was devoted to open space. East of the al-Mu'izz palace, horse-riding grounds were turned into a royal park and garden and a large central space to the west was dedicated to military parades and religious gatherings. A dozen years later, al-Azhar (“the Radiant”) mosque and theological college were built (989). During the Fatimid, Ayyubid and 3 Mamluk periods, Cairo was one of the most advanced cities of learning in the Islamic world. Many landmark buildings around the Park, including the Citadel, testify to the glory of mediaeval Cairo. In the first half of the twentieth century, Cairo was still a city of villas and gardens. In the last 50 years, however, population pressures and high-rise construction built to meet the consequent demand have made it one of the largest and most complex cities in the world. Its population has tripled since 1952, and today greater Cairo has around 17 million people. The growth was compounded by an urban dynamic characterized by disinvestment in the city centre areas. The combination of less investment – particularly in the maintenance and development of housing – and an influx of people, created stresses in the urban fabric that condemned many people to lower standards of living. It was widely assumed that the resulting downward spiral, ending in urban slums, was inevitable. The Agha Khan Trust for Culture set out to prove that those conditions could be reversed and that positive change could be sustained. The Agha Khan Fund The catalyst for its creation was the Agha Khan, who first mooted the project in 1984. It was executed under the aegis of the Agha Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), which worked closely with the Egyptian Government and the local community. The park is on the site of an earlier garden made during the Fatamid reconstruction of Cairo in the late 10th century. For 500 years it was a rubbish dump, causing technical challenges during the new park's construction: over 1,300,000 m3 had to be removed and over 605,000 m3 was cleaned. The park is on high ground and commands spectacular views out over modern Cairo and over the 'City of the Dead'. The central feature of the park is the 'spine' - a walkway which runs the length of the site from the highpoint of the restaurant to the pavilion with a chahar bagh looking over a lake. The walkway is enlivened by a succession of varied water features, including fountain bowls, ground level fountains, rills, canals and chadar all. These features were inspired by various regional Islamic garden making traditions. Surrounding the central zone and taking advantage of the contoured site are lawns and informal planting. The park's design style is perhaps best understood as an Islamic version of the Mixed Style. Like a mid-nineteenth century German park it has a rectilinear core and curvilinear surroundings. The difference is that the core draws from a range of Islamic Paradise gardens, rather than from the Baroque Style. The landscape architect was Dr Maher Moheb Stino of Sites International, who is an Egyptian and a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). There are over 325 different plant species - many native to Egypt and grown in a special nursery. There is an orchard (bustan) to provide shade and the tops of the reservoir tanks are an important design feature. The park was planned like a large tree and spreads its roots into the Darb al-Ahmar neighbourhood. Site clearance revealed a 1.5 km section of the historic Ayyubid Wall of Cairo (dating from 12th and 13th centuries). This required archaeological excavation and conservation work. Labour was drawn from the neighbourhood and trained by the AKTC. Beyond the wall and in the streets, the AKTC initiated socio-economic rehabilitation projects. Many of the trained apprentices continue to work on the park as artisans, stone masons, carpenters, gardeners, catering and security staff, and on the historic building restorations projects being undertaken in Darb al-Ahmar. From a Wasted Land, to a Beautiful Green Park When the project of turning a rubble dump into a park that would act as a catalyst for development was first mentioned 20 years ago, it was considered outlandish. At that time, the concept of environmental improvement in cities was limited to planting trees in a few streets. Since then, many cities, notably Barcelona, have transformed neglected areas into vibrant city centres, but in the early 1980s, the concept was still new and untested. Despite skepticism, the local authorities approved the choice of the site and the first plans were drawn up. The work was delayed by the integration into the Park site of three large fresh water reservoirs, each 80 metres in diameter and 14 metres deep. But in 1990 a protocol was signed between the Agha Khan Trust for Culture and the Governorate of Cairo that led to new plans taking into account the water tanks. In 1992, the Agha Khan Trust for Culture established its Historic Cities Support Program, to implement urban rehabilitation projects in different parts of the Islamic world. Cairo became its most demanding project, encompassing not only the construction of the Park but the restoration of the 1.5 kilometre section of the Ayyubid wall revealed by the removal of the accumulated rubble. It also included the socio-economic rehabilitation of the neighbouring Historic City, which required launching of numerous restoration and community-initiated development projects. The larger area development project became a testing ground, and a case study, for finding solutions to challenges ranging from the technical demands of physical restoration to the equally challenging issues of socio-economic development. ~~~~~~~~~~ h.n.
