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CAIRO — Egypt has made several requests through various forums for assistance in protecting world heritage sites in the country from terror and other physical attacks. For instance, UNESCO's Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict met May 21 to discuss plans for Egyptian heritage sites after the government requested special protection for the ancient city of Thebes. At the same time, however, the Cairo governorate appears bent on demolishing homes and other buildings in historic Old Cairo without regard for their potential and actual heritage value.
On May 4, the Cairo governorate completed the removal of residential buildings on 18 acres in the Ezbet Abu Qarn area of Old Cairo in a three-day demolition campaign. Governorate authorities claimed the buildings were “encroachments on the governorate’s land.” Maher Subhi, an engineer and Old Cairo district chief, said the 34 residential buildings had been illegally built and stressed the need to form a urban planning commission to develop and implement a plan for the area.
On June 3, a number of residents evicted from Ezbet Abu Qarn filed a complaint with the attorney general against the governor of Cairo, the Old Cairo district chief and a police station bailiff, accusing them of trespassing and of forcibly evicting them from their homes. They requested that legal action be taken to financially compensate them, find alternative homes for them or both, and that all evictions stop, pending determination of the complaint.
Forced displacement has been a growing issue in the last three years in Egypt. Sectarianism is cited as one cause along with the concentration of wealth in the hands of businesspeople. In one incident, five Coptic families in Bani Suef were forced from their home after being beseiged by Muslim neighbors upset by a Facebook post about the Prophet Muhammad by a Christian relative living abroad. Another example came from the Ramlet Bulaq district, where a businessman who owns two high-rises and a big hotel in the area had wanted to acquire more land. After many residents refused to leave or sell their land, the police burned houses and conducted raids and arrests to evict them.
On June 6, Cairo governorate representatives and heads of Old Cairo neighborhoods met to discuss how to transfer a number of families from the area, including the Sayeda Zeinab neighborhood, to other parts of the city and provinces. The government claims that the transfers are necessary because the ramshackle state of the buildings pose a danger to residents’ lives. A final decision has not yet been announced.
Samrat Hafez, chairman of the Central Administration of Islamic Antiquities and former head of the Islamic Monuments Sector, said that houses that have architectural and archaeological value and are more than 100 years old should be considered historical sites and documented. The governorate would then be required to restore them and be prohibited from demolishing them.
He told Al-Monitor that it is better to renovate the houses than tear them down, to preserve the architectural and historical character of the area, especially since the state had succeeded in having the neighborhoods of Old Cairo acknowledged by UNESCO as part of Historic Cairo.
Hafez also admitted that some of Old Cairo’s neighborhoods are slums and that removing them will not affect the area’s historical character. If, however, houses in certain areas — such as the Religion Complex in Old Cairo's Fustat neighborhood — are demolished and replaced with newer ones, the nature of the neighborhood would be greatly affected. “Most of the people have no archaeological awareness of the neighborhood and its heritage value,” Hafez said.
Reham Arram, supervisor of the heritage unit for the Cairo governorate, said in an interview with Moheet that the priority for urban projects in Old Cairo is the people and that the governorate is preparing statistics on the neighborhood’s social and economic conditions and evaluating components of the living environment.
She told Al-Monitor that at the moment, she is unable to determine how much the restoration of some houses and demolition of others will affect the architectural heritage and character of the area, especially since they vary from one section to another. She pointed out that the unit she heads is only concerned with properties that have already been designated as heritage sites.
Old Cairo, which lies in the southern part of the Egyptian capital, includes several important sites, including the Hanging Church, one of the oldest Egyptian churches; the mosque of Amr Ibn al-Aas, the oldest mosque in Africa; and the church of Abu Abu Serga, which includes the cave in which the holy family is said to have lived after escaping to Egypt. These monuments are collectively known as the Religions Complex. Also located in Old Cairo are Magra al-Oyoun, a long section of an aqueduct built by Salah al-Din al-Ayouby and the palace of Mohammad Ali, founder of modern Egypt.
The neighborhood has for centuries also been a site for the production of various handicrafts, such as pottery, leather and silverwork. Such products continue to be made there and sold to tourists. Artisans have clashed on several occasions with the governorate, which on May 21 shuttered nine businesses manufacturing and storing leather. In addition, the governorate intends to move the pottery shops to another area to free up space and preserve that profession.
Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, head of the Historic Cairo Restoration Project and assistant minister of antiquities for the Islamic and Coptic unit, said that some houses in Old Cairo are not heritage sites but have a unique architectural style and therefore require restoration. Such work would fall under the purview of the National Organization for Urban Harmony and the Cairo governorate.
Neither the governorate nor any other party has the authority to demolish the heritage houses, according to Abdel-Aziz, who also told Al-Monitor that if houses are to be demolished and rebuilt, approval must be given by the HCRP. No construction is to take place without the permission of the project’s administration.
The HCRP, established in 1992, manages 143 sites. It focuses on three goals: renovating the 143 sites, developing the surrounding area and using the antiquities after their renovation. The project is financed by several ministries, but primarily the Ministries of Tourism and Antiquities, in addition to foreign grants. Its cost to date exceeds 1 billion Egyptian pounds ($130 million). The project has been halted several times, and it is unknown when it might foreseeably complete work on all the designated sites.
Abdel-Aziz told Al-Monitor that in light of conflicts caused when state institutions issue differing decisions, “A ministerial working group headed by the prime minister and including nine ministers and Cairo’s governor was formed to avoid these conflicts and unify decision-making regarding Historic Cairo.” He said some problems with residents were due to conflicts between private and public interests.
The HCRP is trying to address conflicts by engaging more people in the project. It encourages then to submit their restoration proposals, provides funding to assist with restorations and consults residents before work begins. It also solicits opinions through questionnaires and tries to educate people on the importance and objectives of the project and on ways residents can benefit from it.
