Restoration of the National Theatre has begun after the building was gutted by fire. What, asks Nevine El-Aref, can be done to protect cultural institutions from succumbing to similar disasters? Visitors to Al-Attaba square must negotiate swarms of Central Security Forces as they cordon off the 19th century edifice of the National Theatre, gutted by fire two weeks ago. Restoration work on the building has already begun, and workers are currently removing exterior gypsum decorations. Soon they will move to the interior of the building which has been all but destroyed. The scene is one of devastation. The carpet of the main hall is sodden with water. The curtain of the main stage has been totally destroyed and the red velvet of the seats is now black. Wooden backdrops went up in flames and the dome of the main auditorium -- the George Abyad Theatre, named after the celebrated Lebanese actor -- now has a large hole, made by firefighters as they struggled to contain the blaze. "It is a great loss," said Ahmed Hassan, a worker pumping the water out of the main hall. "How did it happen and why? It is as if the nation's memory has been destroyed." The National Theatre was the first theatre to be built in Egypt. Its history dates back to the 15th century when the Azbakeya gardens served as the pleasure grounds of Mameluke Cairo, a leisure zone that contained lavish palaces around a central lake. When Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798 the gardens became the site of a theatre, built to entertain his troops. The lake was subsequently filled by Mohamed Ali, and during the reign of the Khedive Ismail a theatre once again appeared on the site, a small venue on the southern side of the gardens which was used to stage performances by the Comedy Française during the celebrations that marked the inauguration of the Suez Canal. In 1885 the theatre -- the Tiatro Al-Azbakeya -- hosted its first performance by an Egyptian theatre group. It went on to become the home of the Abu Khalil El-Qabani, Iskandar Farah and Salama Hegazi theatre troupes, and by 1935 housed the National Egyptian Group under the leadership of Khalil Motran. The troupe was disbanded in 1942, a result of its anti-British performances. Following the 1952 Revolution the Tiatro Al-Azbakeya became the National Theatre. It boasted two resident companies, the Egyptian National Group and the Modern Egyptian Theatre Group. Actors such as Samiha Ayoub, Ezzat El-Alayli, Nour El-Sherif, Hamdi Ahmed and the late Hamdi and Abdullah Gheith bestrode its stage, and it premiered works by Saadeddin Wahba, Alfred Farag, Lotfi El-Kholi, Noman Ashur and Youssef Idris. The theatre's destruction by fire, says writer Fathi Imbabi, is nothing short of a national catastrophe. "Our house is burnt, our house is burnt," lamented a tearful Samiha Ayoub. "The National Theatre embodied our theatrical heritage and now its halls have been turned to ashes. It is hard to believe that in just a few minutes so many memories could go up in flames." "I spent half of my life in this theatre and now it is no more," said actor Ezzat El-Alayli. His distress was shared by Mahmoud Yassin. "Not only have we lost one of Egypt's largest theatres, we have lost one of the best in the Arab world," he said. "It was central to the education of generations of actors, writers and directors." The cause of the fire has yet to be determined though initial investigations point to an electrical fault. The flames quickly spread through the wooden interior. Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni has argued that the fire should be used as an opportunity to rethink the entire future of the district. "It is important that we work on the safe zoning of the whole theatre complex of Al-Attaba which is home to the National, Al-Taliaa, Youth and the Puppet theatres," he said. He has called for the removal of the bridge that bisects the square in an attempt to improve traffic flows. "There is a common misconception that the overpass facilitates the movement of traffic when in fact it contributes to the congestion. Removing the bridge will allow the square to be re-planned and existing streets widened. As it is, the area beneath the bridge has been co-opted by traders who use it as an unofficial storeroom and this contributes to the general chaos." Hosni promised to convert the square into "a place of calm", replacing the multi-storey car park that currently dominates the scene with a more appropriate architectural edifice, and constructing underground parking facilities. The Ministry of Culture has referred the National Theatre blaze to the Department of Administrative Investigations, and Hosni says that a technical committee will be dispatched to all of Egypt's theatres to inspect security and firefighting systems. Ashraf Zaki, chairman of the Actors' Syndicate, revealed that the building housing the National Theatre was insured for just LE2 million and its contents for LE500,000. It was, he said, equipped with a sophisticated fire fighting system without which the damage would have been even worse. Ahmed Motawei, head of the Firefighting Association, however, criticised the absence of sprinklers in the building and the lax application of existing safety regulations. "Theatres are particularly vulnerable when a fire breaks out. They contain wooden scenery and sets, and can go up like a tinder box," he warns. Egypt's historical buildings are all threatened, says Motaweia, and the only way to avert future disasters is to strictly apply the safety codes that were last revised in 1998. Mohamed Abdel-Fattah, head of the Museum Department at the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), told Al-Ahram Weekly that while newly constructed museums are fully equipped with automatic sprinklers older institutions, including the Egyptian Museum, rely on mobile extinguishers and a permanent mobile Civil Defence Force firefighting unit. The SCA does, however, have plans to install sprinklers in the museum's basement. Abdel-Fattah also revealed that a technical committee of civil defence specialists and technicians is currently touring museums and archaeological sites to inspect security and firefighting systems and suggest ways to enhance protection, especially in buildings such as the Coptic Museum where architectural features such as the painted wooden ceilings present a potential fire hazard.
