Egypt
Al Ahram Weekly (Gamal Nkrumah)
- Ottoman Cairo's Ghosts Hold Delightful Secrets
Al Ahram Weekly (Gamal Nkrumah) Agnieszka Dobrowolska, a conservation architect, travels, often alone or in the company of her co-worker and architectural partner, her husband Jaroslaw Dobrowolski -- author of The Living Stones of Cairo -- to bring back...
- Hawass Meeting With The Ministry Of Waqf
drhawass.com (Zahi Hawass) Today, I met with Dr. Elhussein, the Minister of Waqf to discuss the restoration of some Islamic monuments. We have spent 2 billion EGP on the conservation of Egyptian monuments over 20 years. We agreed that we will select a...
- Book Review: Islamic Civilisation - History And Treasures
Al Ahram Weekly (Gamal Nkrumah) Islamic Civilisation: History and Treasures Francesca Romana Romani The author makes clear that Arabia was not always so iconoclastic. Arab culture was originally just as decadent as its polytheistic neighbours, even in...
- Cairo Under Siege
Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref) Following its meeting in New Zealand last month, the World Heritage Committee (WHC) released a report that may exacerbate differences between the Ministry of Culture and the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) on one...
- The Pasha's Street
Al Ahram Weekly by Soheir Hawas A special feature calling for the restoration of Mohamed Ali Street "Mohamed Ali" Street has a long history and a valuable heritage value that makes it deserving of commemoration and restoration. The historic, symbolic...
Egypt
Heritage Management: Islamic Cairo
Al Ahram Weekly (Gamal Nkrumah)
Ahmed Sedky, the self-effacing prince of Arab-Islamic architectural treasures talks cultural memory, traditional lifestyles in mediaeval urban settings, and the pitfalls of preservation, conservation and restoration to Gamal Nkrumah
Ahmed Sedky sighs. "The Boharas? Now they are not funny. They are dead serious," he mock drawls. Baby-faced, grey-haired, wide-eyed and smiling with mischievous pleasure, he acknowledges that city dwellers, particularly those resident in historic districts, have a harder time befriending their neighbours since lives are busier and closer quarters often lead to conflicts of interests. Minutes earlier as I go up to the first floor to meet Sedky, I reflect that if anyone can bridge the large divide on restoration between developing countries like Egypt and the developed world, it is articulate architects like Ahmed Sedky. He is keen on transferring the state-of-the-art conservationist technologies from Western countries to the developing world, but he does not see the process as a piecemeal one. For years Sedky has been well known among the cognoscenti, and deservedly so.
"Of course they have a hidden agenda. Of course, they are wrong, and deliberately so," he added, quick as a flash.
"But my point is," he hastens to add is: Who is really responsible for the shortcomings with regards to sustainability and social needs of the residents of historic Islamic Cairo in the conservation and restoration projects of the area over the past few decades?"
- Ottoman Cairo's Ghosts Hold Delightful Secrets
Al Ahram Weekly (Gamal Nkrumah) Agnieszka Dobrowolska, a conservation architect, travels, often alone or in the company of her co-worker and architectural partner, her husband Jaroslaw Dobrowolski -- author of The Living Stones of Cairo -- to bring back...
- Hawass Meeting With The Ministry Of Waqf
drhawass.com (Zahi Hawass) Today, I met with Dr. Elhussein, the Minister of Waqf to discuss the restoration of some Islamic monuments. We have spent 2 billion EGP on the conservation of Egyptian monuments over 20 years. We agreed that we will select a...
- Book Review: Islamic Civilisation - History And Treasures
Al Ahram Weekly (Gamal Nkrumah) Islamic Civilisation: History and Treasures Francesca Romana Romani The author makes clear that Arabia was not always so iconoclastic. Arab culture was originally just as decadent as its polytheistic neighbours, even in...
- Cairo Under Siege
Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref) Following its meeting in New Zealand last month, the World Heritage Committee (WHC) released a report that may exacerbate differences between the Ministry of Culture and the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) on one...
- The Pasha's Street
Al Ahram Weekly by Soheir Hawas A special feature calling for the restoration of Mohamed Ali Street "Mohamed Ali" Street has a long history and a valuable heritage value that makes it deserving of commemoration and restoration. The historic, symbolic...