Egypt’s oldest Arabic calligraphy school struggles to survive
Many institutes of calligraphy simply closed their doors when the Egyptian government stopped subsidizing them, but one school persists.
Khalil Agha School, Egypt’s oldest specialized institute of Arabic calligraphy, is struggling to survive as less and less people take an interest in learning calligraphy. Many calligraphy institutes have already closed their doors.
"The numbers are declining every year due to the lack of available job opportunities, the rise of technology and the labor market demand for other languages including English,” Hassan Mahmoud, the headmaster of the school, told Al-Monitor.
The school was inaugurated Jan. 29, 1928, by King Fouad I of Egypt with the aim of training skillful calligraphers. It used to have professors of both Turkish and Egyptian origins and the education was free, creating a wide demand. Today, there are 70 students and they have to shoulder school fees, as well as the cost of pens, ink and sketchbooks.
Located in Bab al-Shariya, Old Cairo, the school building is built in the modern Islamic style, and its collection includes 100-year-old paintings as well as many rare books.
