Refurbishing the city victorious Two months ago, after President Mubarak gave the project the go-ahead, a ministerial group began studying ways to transform Islamic Cairo into an open-air museum. The initial stage has already been completed. Nevine El-Aref reviews the progress made There are 313 landmark monuments in Islamic Cairo. Five per cent of these are owned by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), while the remaining 95 per cent are under the control of the Ministry of Endowments (Awqaf). Some of the Islamic world's most magnificent medieval buildings stand here: mosques, sabil-kuttabs (Qur'an schools traditionally constructed atop public water fountains), and 17th- and 18th-century houses, some of which are being converted into cultural and art centres. A heavily populated zone, Islamic Cairo includes such well-known sites as Khan Al-Khalili, the copper-making district, the goldsmiths' market, the tent-makers' area, and streets specialising in the production of blown-glass goods. The area, however, has suffered damage wreaked by an increasing population, poor facilities such as sewage networks, air and subsoil water pollution, and, more recently, the 1992 earthquake. The monuments have also suffered the after-effects of poor restoration carried out over the past two hundred years. The problem of urban encroachment is perhaps best exemplified by the misuse of more than 180 buildings in Al-Mu'izz Lidin Illah Street alone in the recent past. The buildings have been leased to tradesmen, turned into schools by the Ministry of Awqaf, or used as crafts centres by the Ministry of Social Affairs, with little concern for the damage these activities may cause. Bishtak Palace, for example, is occupied by merchants, as are the Salihiya and Ashrafiya madrasas. The mosque of Soliman Al-Selehdar is being used as a storeroom by the Ministry of Education. Abused for decades, these monuments have decayed; their vast halls are abandoned, while their outer walls serve to support street vendors' makeshift stalls. Fortunately, restoration has already been completed on 10 monuments within this zone, including the houses of Al-Harawi and Zeinab Khatoun, the sabil-kuttabs of Nefissa Al-Bayda and Abdel-Rahman Katkhuda, and a small sabil endowed by Qait Bey. Work was carried out by the French and German Institutes of Archaeology and the American Research Centre of Egypt in collaboration with the SCA. According to Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri, the first phase of what will eventually be an open-air museum will begin in four places: the Gamaliya area, Al-Mu'izz Street, Al-Darb Al-Ahmar, and Sayeda Zeinab. The buildings and adjoining streets between Bab Al-Futuh and Bab Zuweila are being restored in a bid to recreate, if not recapture, their original Islamic setting. The project, of which the initial cost is estimated at LE850 million, will take four years. Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni last week viewed the progress made so far on this first phase, during which Beit Al-Suhaymi and three other monuments are to be restored and inaugurated in close succession. He toured Beit Al-Suhaymi, Beit Al-Khorazati, Beit Mustafa Gaafar and the sabil-kuttab of Qitas -- and expressed his delight, particularly with the progress made on Beit Al-Suhaymi, which will be officially inaugurated early next year. "The first floor of the house and its open court will be transformed into a cultural and arts centre like the house of Zeinab Khatoun," Hosni said, "while the rest of the house will be a museum reflecting the social life of a typical 17th- or 18th-century Cairene house." Beit Al-Suhaymi covers over 2,000 square metres. It comprises 115 halls and chambers on five floors surrounding a vast main court. The house's wooden ceilings are lavishly decorated; its floors are embellished with coloured marble, while the doors and cabinets demonstrate Cairene craftsmen's consummate skill in wood joinery. An open area in the northeast section holds a water wheel and a mill, typical elements of the large houses belonging to wealthy Cairene merchants or dignitaries of the era. Before restoration work actually began, all the wooden doors and delicate architectural elements were documented, packed, and placed in a temporary storage area behind the house. "Already the different stages of restoration of Beit Al-Suhaymi have been documented. More than 25,000 photos and slides and 40 hours of video were taken," said Adham Nadim, assistant director of the restoration project. According to Nadim, preliminary studies were undertaken in 1994, but the actual work began only in March 1996, when the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) earmarked LE15 million for the project. "This is the first time that AFESD has earmarked funds for restoration, and it is hopefully a starting point for continued collaboration with the Ministry of Culture," said Hosni. The minister called on Egyptian businessmen to participate in the rehabilitation of the Islamic city, "which maintains a strong social identity with groups of monuments dominating the urban space." "Without skilled craftsmen, the area would be a desert," Hosni noted. "The government is keen to settle craftsmen in their original locations, but in a manner that complements the area." Hosni added that workers whose small enterprises adversely affect the monuments, like the pickle factory on the northeastern side of Beit Al-Suhaymi, and the aluminium factory which dumps waste against the building's walls, will be relocated elsewhere "unless they change their activities". In this case, he said, "the government will help the workers and provide them with training courses, if necessary, and materials for new businesses." Various stages of the restoration are clearly inscribed on several other monuments, especially those adjacent to the northern wall of the medieval city, the complex of Al-Mansour Qala'oun, the gates of Cairo and Al-Azhar Street. The plan includes a tunnel linking Opera Square to Salah Salem Street, which will relieve pressure on the older parts of the city. This will function as an alternative to the Azhar bridge, which is to be removed. The idea of converting the historical zone into an open-air museum has raised criticism from those who envisage, with not a little trepidation, extensive commercialisation of the area in the form of Western-style fast-food outlets and handicrafts conceptualised for Western consumers. The aim of the project, however, is to retain the area's Islamic character: the Naguib Mahfouz Café and El-Fishawi will remain, and traditional restaurants offering typically Egyptian food are sure to abound. It is entirely possible, however, that this "authentic atmosphere" will be sanitised for tourist consumption. "The aim of the project," said Abdallah El-Attar, head of the Islamic and Coptic department at the SCA, "is first to protect the Islamic heritage, then to provide visitors with an overview of the development of Islamic architecture from the Fatimid period to the Ottoman era, and to portray what life was like during this vital period." The restoration and upgrading of Islamic Cairo will last until the new millennium; by then, it will be possible to imagine -- perhaps more accurately, and certainly more comfortably than today -- what the great city was once like.
