IN the previous article, we talked about the formation of an Egyptian chapter to the French Organisation ‘‘Vieilles Maisons Francaises ��"VMF'' which is in charge of the preservation of architectural cultural heritage in France. The Egyptian chapter decided to work on the influence of the French architecture on Egypt as well as the influence of the Egyptian culture on Paris in what is known as ‘Egyptomania'. This week we are going to show the effect of the Egyptian culture on Paris. In fact , the interest of France in the Egyptian culture goes back to the 16th century, yet it came to its peak after the Napoleon Expedition to Egypt and the appearance of the famous encyclopedic publication "La Déscription de l'Egypte”. Since then, the magic of the orient invaded France and the era that is known as Egyptomania started. The influence of the Pharaonic culture invaded every aspect of life in Paris starting from obelisques, sphinx and pyramids to architectural elements to the extent that Jean Marcel Humbert claimed in his book ‘L'Egypte à Paris'that the city of Paris was named after the Egyptian goddess Isis. The cult of Isis was propagating by the Roman empire as it was expanding in Europe and reached as far as the British islands. During that period, they had built temples for their gods including Isis wherever they went, including the location of today's Paris. The temple of Isis was called in the Ancient Egyptian language ‘Par-Isis' which means ‘the house of Isis' which was transformed with time to Paris (which is already a name of one of the suburbs) then to Paris, or from the expression ‘ Pres d'Isis ' or " Pres d Issy'. Many evidences support this idea since in many excavations around Paris they found several statuettes of Isis. One of the very important Egyptian landmarks in Paris is Ramses the second's obelisque placed in the main square, ‘Place de la Concorde', which was originally in front of Luxor temple, then it was offered by Mohamed Ali to France upon the request of Champollion. Ever since then, Paris was filled by many other artificial obelisques whether as decoration of squares, or as decoration in front of buildings, monuments or even tombs. Sphinxes were also used as parts of fountains, to decorate entrances of bridges or in front of buildings and Pyramids of different sizes are present everywhere; most of them are stone built, yet the last pyramid was made out of glass in a huge scale at the entrance of the Louvre Museum. Egypt is present in Paris not only through structures but also through the naming of the streets such as Rue de Nil, Place des Pyramides, Rue de l'Obelisque, Rue d'Alexandrie , Rue du Caire and Rue d'Aboukir. More than that, Egypt was heavily present at the different ‘Paris International' Fairs of the 19th century whether that of 1867, 1878, 1889 or 1900. In the 1889 fair, a complete typical Egyptian street was constructed with houses having ‘Mashrabeyas, mosques and shops as well as folkloric events. In the 1900 fair, Egypt was present through ‘Le Palais de l'Egypte' or ‘The Egyptian Palace'. Apart from all these manifestations, the Egyptian spirit is also present in the different pieces of furniture that are used everywhere in France with great taste. I must say that from my personal experience with the French people, I closely sensed their great passion for Egypt and am very flattered as if I was one of those great Pharaohs. [email protected] Saleh is the Director of Egypt's Centre for Documentation of Culture and Natural Heritage.
