It is as difficult to imagine Cairo now without Al-Azhar Park as it is to visualise what the Darassa site looked like until the mid-1990s, when it was a mound of debris that had accumulated over five centuries. Surrounded by landmark mosques and monuments of Islamic Cairo, the park is located between the Darb el-Ahmar area and Salah Salem Street, where the Park's vehicular and pedestrian entrances are found. It was completed in 2004, after seven years' work transforming the derelict site into undulating landscaped gardens. The mixed desert, Nile Valley and Mediterranean planting is naturalistic with massed groups of flowers creating both brilliant and subtle swathes of colour at all times of the year, together with the fragrance of aromatic herbs. The rapidly growing indigenous and naturalised introduced trees are now providing shade in the heat of a summer's day. Beguiling to the eye and ear are the numerous water features including a large lake, fountains, running streams and a tumbling waterfall. There are stunning and changing panoramic views by day and at night of both the historic and contemporary city from all directions and at different heights. The nearby Ayyubid Citadel of Salah el-Din on the skyline and the Ottoman Mosque of Mohamed Ali Pasha with its elegant twin minarets and gleaming domes dominate the cityscape, below which is located the imposing Madrassa (religious school) and Mosque of Sultan Hassan. That the site is only 30 hectares (74 acres) in area is belied by its cunning topography and use of paths around and through the Park. It was designed by the Egyptian landscape architectural firm Sites International, which drew on the traditional use of public spaces in Islamic contexts from different periods and regions. This is reflected in orchard-like spaces, shaded sitting areas and the architecture of buildings and furniture in the park including marble benches and lighting designed by Sites International and built by local artisans using local materials. The surrounding Islamic references also include to the east the magnificent Mameluke mosques and mausoleums of the vast necropolis known as the ‘City of the Dead' and to the west the evocative Fatimid city. Al-Azhar Park was created by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in the context of an extensive socio-economic development programme, notably in the low-income Darb el-Ahmar neighbourhood, which is located the other side of the excavated and restored 12th century Ayyubid Wall. Below the wall in the park is the open-air El-Genaina Theatre whose inspired presentation of local and international events and concerts is run by Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafy, the regional cultural resource organisation. There are four restaurants in the park on different levels, three of which are constructed in elegant stylised Islamic designs ��" the Lakeside Café pavilion and the hilltop Citadel View housing Alain le Nôtre and Studio Misr restaurants. Midway is the airy Ayyubid Café (a Trianon branch) equipped with large creamy parasols. The origins of Al-Azhar Park date to 1984 when His Highness the Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, decided to donate a park to the citizens of the Egyptian capital, in the context of reconciling conservation and development. There is a pleasing resonance to his decision in that the Aga Khan is a direct descendent of the Prophet Mohamed through his daughter Fatima, after whom the Fatimid dynasty was named. When the capital city was rebuilt and laid out by the ruling Fatimids in the 10th century and named Al-Qahira (the victorious), from which Cairo is derived, some 20 per cent of its area was devoted to open space. Al-Azhar Park is the largest green space created in Cairo for more than a century, combating the eradication by development of the city's once famous parks. These include the nearby Ezbikiya Gardens, which have now become a sad vestige of their former glory with their vital role as the green lung of downtown Cairo eroded. As well as acting as a magnet for Cairo residents, the park is an increasingly popular and highly rated attraction for visitors. It comes as a revelation in a capital city whose former grandeur is too often despoiled by neglect, chaos in the streets and the unsightly and odorous piles of rubbish. Will they have to wait 500 years before being transformed by a benefactor?
Faraldi has lived in Upper Egypt and then Cairo, since 1991, working in higher education and as a researcher, writer and editor.
