The heart of Cairo is being promised a much-needed restoration campaign, Amira El-Noshokaty talks to the man who is in charge of making the city look its best You know you are in Downtown Cairo when your eyes fall upon grand boulevards and even grander buildings with late 19th century and 20th century European-style doorways and sculptures, designed in a combination of art deco, art nouveau, baroque and neo-Islamic styles. Of course, over the decades much beauty has been tampered with, by both the hands of time and careless people. Since the 1980s there has been an ongoing struggle to rescue Downtown's architectural heritage. The struggle has gone round in circles due to the lack of an official body and the necessary laws in place for the restoration and preservation of the area. That is, until along came the National Organisation for Urban Harmony (NOUH) with its restoration plan for Khedivine Cairo. First established in 2004, NOUH is affiliated to the Ministry of Culture, and aims at enabling beauty to prevail all over Egyptian urban space. The project for the Downtown area kicks off with Ramses Street, and extends from Abbasiya to Abdel-Moneim Riad Square in Tahrir. "This is only the beginning of our project," NOUH chief Samir Gharib told Al-Ahram Weekly. Phase two is set to cover the area from Talaat Harb Square to Mustafa Kamel Square in Downtown. The third target area stretches from Mustafa Kamel Square to Opera Square. On the long term, it is set to cover all of Downtown, and eventually the rest of Egypt. The projects are planned "one step at a time, because of two factors: time and money," Gharib noted. Restoration work is limited to the façades of historical buildings or those with a special architectural style. "Our first goal is to allow beauty to flourish in our urban space, and apply this value to the elements occupying space such as the façades of buildings, streets, sidewalks, lampposts, greenery, and advertisements -- indeed anything that you see on the street. However, if there is an internal problem that is affecting or threatening the well-being of a given façade, then NOUH restores the building from the inside as well," Gharib told the Weekly. One thing is certain, and that is that the project to restore Khedivine Cairo started off on the right foot. Downtown was the starting point of Khedive Ismail when he aimed to modernise Egypt by building quarters adopting European styles of architecture from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, it was Mohamed Ali Pasha who really pushed this shift further. According to Nelly Hanna's book Misr Om Al-Donia ( Egypt: The Mother of the World ), the real drive to modernise Egypt was made by Mohamed Ali Pasha, who charted the first straight wide street between Al-Qalaa (Citadel) district and that of Al-Azbakia and named it after himself. Moreover, he was the first to adopt the foreign architectural designs in Egypt, when building his Shubra Palace back in 1808. This yearning to modernise Egypt in general and its architecture in particular was passed on to Khedive Ismail whose modern districts were the new government quarters and hence attracted the Egyptian elite. Hanna's book also reveals the difference between the regular and modern urban designs back in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Unlike the regular designs of Egyptian residential districts back then, with one main central road with various ally extensions, the foreign style adopted straight, wide, open-ended streets rid of narrow allies and dead-end streets. In addition to vast squares, the spacious new quarter with its wide streets gave room for modern means of transportation to find their way. Gradually Downtown and several neighbouring quarters -- which together form what is known as Khedivine Cairo -- came to represent the beating heart of an entire era's commercial, economic as well as cultural activities. As such the area stole the show from the older Islamic Cairo quarters, which were left to handicraft and lower middle-class workers. Much has changed since then, of course. Having deviated from its original status, Khedivine Cairo -- or all Cairo for that matter -- has long been in desperate need for greater urban harmony. Though numerous governmental and non-governmental efforts were exerted from the 1980s onwards to preserve what is left of the glamour, there was no sustainable element or legal entity to preserve or coordinate such restoration efforts. So it was that NOUH's role started to take shape several years ago, as new laws began to be passed regarding the preservation of urban space and architectural heritage nationwide. "At first, we researched Egyptian urban plans and divided it into 13 different categories, from heritage to shantytowns, "said Gharib, adding that each category is dealt with according to its nature. Taking Khedivine Cairo as an example, he explained that buildings shall be restored in their original shape and colour, because they are part of our heritage as they are. On the other hand, coastal buildings, subjected to constant sunlight, ought to be painted in light colours or white, since the water reflects the sunbeams doubling their reflection on the buildings. But what about new buildings that defy all forms of urban harmony? According to the law of urban harmony 119/2008, NOUH is the authority that governs and monitors the general rules and regulations applicable to all forms of urban planning. "This means that when necessary, we change the colours of any new building that clashes with existing ones. We apply a general rule, which states that buildings in any given residential area should be in harmony with one another. Harmony is our name; this principle ought to be applied through colour coordination. New buildings should fall into such harmony," he noted. "Penalties will be passed on whoever disturbs the restorations of any old building and whoever builds a new one that does not follow the urban harmony district code," Gharib warned. As for the demolition of buildings of special significance, this is governed by Law 144/2006, which protects Egypt's architectural heritage, in addition to Law 119/2008 by which preservation falls under NOUH's authority. NOUH in turn has committees in all governorates to take note of rare buildings, and preserve them. For his part Gharib is head of the appeal committee, which allows owners of ancient buildings to appeal in order to get a demolition order. Being in such a position gives NOUH the upper hand in preserving our architectural heritage. From Beheira governorate to Assiut, dozens of NOUH's projects have been implemented from charting streets to preserving historical buildings. But what about shantytowns, will they ever be included? Considering that some 40 per cent of Egypt's districts are unplanned shantytowns, Gharib stated that NOUH has developed a guide to plan these areas. "Unfortunately, the government overlooks our role in shantytowns, because we as an organisation are relatively new," he lamented.
