My companion exclaimed "bareeza bass!" (ten piastres only) at the ticket-turnstile where the two attendants confirmed that indeed was the admission cost for one person. They laughed when he then asked where one would get a ten-piastre coin these days in Egypt, where it is very rarely found in change. Our destination was the Agricultural Museum situated in Doqqi just below, and to the left of the elevated road from the Sixth October Bridge, with the museum entrance off Wizaret el-Ziraa (Ministry of Agriculture) street. Although it feels far removed spatially and temporally, the museum is suprisingly near downtown Cairo as the crow flies, which in fact is one of the avian species always found cawing and hopping around the museum's spacious leafy grounds that feel so temporally and spatially remote from the modern city. But in fact, as I had hoped and expected, the first birds we saw and heard were several of the striking parakeets, which originally escaped captivity and thrived in Cairo. The Agricultural Museum is one of their most popular haunts, and a huge old persea, with wonderfully gnarled and long surface roots, one of their favourite trees. This persea in the old and charming ‘Pharaonic Garden' near the entrance is one of 12 that were originally planted around the Agricultural Museum. The tree was revered by the Ancient Egyptians and widely grown in their gardens, although rarely found in private or public gardens of the modern Egyptians. There are other magnificent trees in the museum grounds, both indigenous and introduced, which, as well as giving shade and beauty, provide the relatively uncommon in Egypt and pleasing sensation of dried leaves rustling underfoot in some parts of the grounds. There is also a more recently planted recreation of a Pharaonic garden in front of one of the Agricultural Museum's newest buildings housing its oldest collection, Ancient Egyptian Agriculture, whose diverse contents include a wealth of fascinating Ancient Egyptian artefacts made from plant material. Another of the later buildings displays the history of cotton, but is rarely open. The Ministry of Agriculture created the museum between 1930 and 1938, when it was inaugurated. It contains several superb purpose-built 1930s buildings as well as two fine earlier and palatial villas of the benevolent Princess Fatma Ismail, who died in 1920 and had substantially contributed to founding what is now known as Cairo University. The first building encountered is that of the Animal Kingdom/Scientific Collections with its attractive external 1930s reliefs of animals, plants and produce, set like pictures in a frame. Popular exhibits here include reconstructions of everyday scenes from rural life, together with rural crafts from throughout the country and all aspects of farming, featuring life-sized figures that are dominated by an ornate camel-drawn wedding procession. Upstairs in this two-storey building are the zoological collections of stuffed and variously otherwise preserved animals from Egypt and different countries. The next building on the right, housing the Botanic Kingdom/Plant Wealth Collection, which formerly was one of Princess Fatma's villas, with an Arabesque stone fountain in an inner courtyard, which can be seen through some of the windows, and also has some lovely external and internal decoration. There are outstanding, both artistically and technically, exhibits throughout these exceptionally varied collections including the black and white photographs of agricultural scenes and landscapes and maquettes and models of agricultural facilities, activities and products as well as village and domestic life. Around the corner and facing the rose garden is the delightful bougainvillea covered Arabic Pavilion, mainly devoted to a Syrian theme. The artfully modelled and positioned figures here have an uncannily lifelike presence. The 1930s Cinema Building, which also contains a comprehensive herbarium and other services, is usually closed but its streamlined architecture is a joy for Art Deco enthusiasts. To the left of the museum's exit is the other – and relatively recently renovated – elegant villa of Princess Fatma, now the ‘rare possessions' museum including an eclectic royal collection of fine paintings and sculpture, furniture, antiques and a fascinating early 20th century photographic display. Despite the Agricultural Museum's sometimes outmoded period presentation, in many ways it stands as a shining example of a multi-disciplinarian approach contrasting with the narrow overly specialised higher education too often encountered in Egypt these days. All you ever wanted to know – or didn't need to know – about agriculture? Yes! But so much more, embracing numerous sciences and medicine as well as history, tradition and culture, with its extraordinarily modest entrance charge for hours of pleasure and interest. It's a worthy cause looking for a patron in the footsteps of Princess Fatma who could help the Ministry of Agriculture to realise the museum's immense potential and honour those dedicated and inspired Egyptians who founded it.
Faraldi has lived in Upper Egypt and then Cairo, since 1991, working in higher education and as a researcher, writer and editor.
