Cairo’s downtown slow revival amid efforts to restore architectural heritage
The collapse of an old building in downtown Cairo has shed light on the state of historic buildings in the area, while heritage preservation is the focus of various projects.
An old building in Qasr el-Nile Street, one of the main arteries that runs through downtown Cairo, the urban center of Egypt’s capital, partially collapsed Aug. 15, injuring four people. The building was not an ordinary one.
According to an Aug. 16 statement by the public prosecution, the four-story building, which housed two residential units and several stores, was built in 1941 and registered as a building of special architectural style. The prosecution noted that there had been several orders to restore the listed building in the past, the last of which dated to 1993, but all these orders had been ignored.
The collapse of the listed building was the latest in a chain of a wider and recurring phenomenon — the traditional leniency of the authorities when it comes to enforcing laws and regulations on construction and maintenance, coupled with the illegal action of some owners and real estate developers, have made these types of incidents frequent, and has recently become an important concern for the Egyptian government. In regard to historic buildings, the state of negligence does not help.
Downtown Cairo has long been a glaring example of this process. Developed between the late 19th century and the mid-20th century, the new heart of the Egyptian capital, located in an area that extends from the Old City to the Nile River, has a distinctive architectural style that combines European styles with local influences and materials.
