Age-old marvels of Old Cairo rise from indifference and ruin

The urban gems of Old Cairo are getting a second lease of life.

Thanks to the work of architectural heritage enthusiasts, the inhabitants of the Egyptian capital are gradually reclaiming their medieval mausoleums, their secular mosques and their historic Koranic schools.

In the maze of alleys of this megalopolis of 20 million inhabitants, old buildings coexist with more recent apartment buildings.

But the separation remains very real between the Cairenes and their monuments, say the specialists.

“

,” architect May al-Ibrashy told AFP from his office on the rooftops of the al-Khalifa district, framed by two 14th-century minarets. .

This fine connoisseur of Old Cairo launched the Athar Lina initiative in 2012 (“heritage belongs to us”, in Arabic) which multiplies workshops, guided tours and even afternoon games in monuments such as Ibn Touloun.

Built at the end of the 9th century, the mosque is one of the oldest on the African continent.

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Since Egypt adopted a strict conservation policy in the 1980s, the monuments have been

because

, reports Omniya Abdel to AFP. Barr.

But this policy inherited from the 19th century has since gone out of fashion.

continues this specialist in heritage preservation.

An alley in Old Cairo, in January 2023. Heritage lovers have set up a campaign to raise awareness of the history of the city and its buildings, so that the inhabitants reclaim this historic district of the Egyptian capital.

Khaled DESOUKI, AFP

As a result of this old-fashioned conservation measure, locals have gradually lost their familiarity with Old Cairo's oldest buildings.

," May al-Ibrashy noted.

Reconnect, rekindle memories

With her colleague Omniya Abdel Barr, May al-Ibrashy is now striving, within her Athar Lina initiative, to combine past and present.

In an embroidery workshop set up in an old renovated house, women make hangings that represent all of their Egypt: minarets and arcades, but also a mango tree, the neighborhood dyer, a traveling merchant and the stray dogs of Old Cairo.

With this campaign of reappropriation,

, assures Omniya Abdel Barr.

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Childhood memories, Mohammed Tareq, 39, has in spades in his popular district of the citadel of Cairo, built by Saladin in the 12th century.

As a child, he regularly walked past Beit Yakan, a 17th century patrician house, then nicknamed

.

When he was older, he brought an ox there before his sister's wedding, because a butcher had taken over the place to make it his slaughterhouse.

Today, he works there and takes visitors around in the scent of aromatic plants that escape from the moucharabiehs that Alaa Habachi had sculpted by cabinetmakers.

In 2009, this professor of architecture bought the house from the famous butcher, to save it from a demolition order.

The library of Beit Yakan, a patrician house in Old Cairo, built in the 17th century.

Mohamed Hossam, AFP

Of the 600 patrician houses, recognizable by their central patio, in Old Cairo, only 24 are today classified as national heritage, assures Alaa Habachi to AFP.

Others, like Beit Yakan, with its two-storey library and wooden Mamluk and Ottoman ceilings, have no legal protection.

,” laments the academic.

However, he continues,

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To revive these areas of socialization in a city where public spaces are eaten away by developers and development works, Beit Yakan regularly hosts workshops, heritage protection awareness campaigns and events for local residents. .

Without these places open to all, Old Cairo could be

, warns Alaa Habachi.

But

of Old Cairo, he recalls.

A community that has

, notes Omniya Abdel Barr.

She wants to remain optimistic.

Beit Yakan, Athar Lina and the others can be a game changer and, according to her,

"

," hopes the heritage specialist.