The theft of a decorative element from the door of the Sultan Farag Ibn Barquq funerary complex is the latest in a spate of similar incidents, writes Nevine El-Aref A security guard has been detained over the theft of a star-shaped bronze decoration bearing the name of Sultan Barquq that was stolen from the entrance gate of the Sultan Farag Ibn Barquq funerary complex in Al-Muezz Street. The guard has been charged with dereliction of duty. The theft highlights the lack of security at historical and archaeological sites, especially those from the Islamic period. This is the first theft to occur at the Sultan Ibn Barquq funerary complex, which is considered one of the most distinguished of all the Islamic monuments in Cairo, but it is the eighth in a line of recent thefts from Islamic monuments. The Rifaai Mosque, Qubet Affandina and Inal Al-Yussufi have all been victims, to mention only a few. Police say the guard of the Ibn Barquq funerary complex left his position at prayer time last Friday to go to the mosque. On his return he was astonished to see that the decorative copper centrepiece had been removed from the entrance gate. He called the Tourism and Antiquities Police who came immediately to inspect the theft, but they were unable to ascertain who had taken the object. The guard was taken into custody for investigation and was subsequently accused of negligence in deserting his post. In response to the incident, archaeologist Iman R Abdel-Fattah, currently on leave from the Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA), told Al-Ahram Weekly: "Sadly, the recent theft at the Complex of Sultan Barquq is not garnering the outrage and press that it deserves. While such incidents of theft predate the revolution, they have become all too frequent since." She said that if Barquq was not an ancient monument, it was still an archaeological site that had been irreversibly violated. If sites are not looted, they are enveloped in a veil of ugliness. "I feel particularly sad because I spent five years of my life working with these treasures, and a year on these very doors," Abdel-Fattah said. The chairman of NADIM Industries, Adham Nadim, who with his father was responsible for the restoration of the Beit Al-Suhaimi in the Darb Al-Asfar district off Al-Muezz Street, posted on his Facebook wall that he, "Can't sleep after hearing such news". He said it was "unjustifiable, unacceptable for this to go on". Nadim continued: "This is no coincidence, nor is this an isolated event. This is part of a daily organised crime campaign against our cultural heritage covering all periods of our history. "One might have expected mass outrage and heavy media coverage. I would have liked to see an official statement by the minister, if not the PM." Nadim says there should be an official international ban on selling stolen artefacts, as well as on exhibiting them in any exhibition or museum in the future. "The world must know that we are taking notice," he says. He described the mosque and madrasa (religious school) of Sultan Barquq, built in 1386, as a monument that had defied the passage of time for six and a quarter centuries. "Barquq used what were then state-of-the-art doors for his monument", Nadim said. "No effort was spared; no material or technique was not stretched to its limits to create a time capsule as a testament to those glorious times." He added that the Egyptian people had lived with the pieces that had gone missing for hundreds and sometimes thousands of years. "It is terrible that we have to see live through this tragic time of not being able to hold on to our past. This is typical of a nation suffering from Alzheimer's." Nadim wonders how this situation was reached, and how to get out of it. "How did we arrive at the collective 'who cares about our heritage?'," he says. Nadim says that the state is setting a bad example when it wipes off the graffiti documenting the events of the past 17 months from downtown Cairo in an attempt to erase history. "It is this same spirit that justifies the illegal trade of the soul of a nation," he claims. "Obviously there is a market and price for what we were and what we culturally created. I feel that the Egyptian soul has lost a part." He hopes the people who steal the country's heritage know what they have and take good care of it until, someday, it comes back. "I wish I was in a position to make a call for action," Nadim lamented. In a telephone interview the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), Mohsen Sayed Ali, told the Weekly that the guard was still in custody for negligence and an investigation was taking place. To put an end to the problem of constant thefts and the charges of lack of responsibility flung to and fro between the Ministry of State for Antiquities and the Ministry of Endowments, Ali announced that a private security agency would be appointed to safeguard the historic mosques all over Egypt. As a first step, Ali said, 76 of the 128 historic mosques in Cairo would be safeguarded. He said that a bid had been tendered to select the most suitable security agency to take on the job. The guards' salaries would be shared equally between the MSA and the Ministry of Endowments. The Ibn Barquq complex was built in 1384 by the first "tower" or Burgi Mamluk sultan, who ruled from 1382 to 1399. At that time the northern cemetery was nothing but a desert, and Farag Ibn Barquq took the decision to develop it to meet a wish of his father. This complex includes a sabil-kuttab (water fountain and Quran school) and a mausoleum where Barquq's son Abdel-Aziz and one of his daughters are buried. Farag Ibn Barquq himself was not buried there, as he was killed in Syria at an early age and was buried there. The complex also houses a khanka, or living quarters for Sufi mystics, The fa��ade has a distinctive stone entrance of black and white marble, a plain cupola, narrow recessed panels that frame the windows and an octagonal minaret with three balconies. The offset entrance has bronze-plated doors inlaid with polygonal silver designs, and Barquq's name appears on a central star. photo: Sherif Sonbol
