Egypt

Walking Old Cairo

Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El-Aref)

Visitors to Al-Muizz Street in Fatimid Cairo will encounter an unfamiliar scene in the next few days. They will be able to stroll along the street without having to worry about traffic. Nor will they have to negotiate the huge pumps that for years blocked the routes of pedestrians as they pumped out subterranean water. These, like the drainage pipes over which visitors once tripped, are no more. A majority of the monuments that line the street have now been restored and the handful that have not are nearing completion.

Workers are now busy repaving the street. Others, on wooden scaffolding, are cleaning the façade of houses and shops. On an empty platform in front of the Qalawun Mosque two gardeners with spades are busy planting a pair of date palms to recall the original spirit of the street. Before the Mohamed Ali sabil (public fountain), which has been transformed into a Textile Museum, a dozen engineers and technicians stand checking lamps that will illuminate the dramatic façades along the entire street. The lighting has been designed so that colours can be used to mark special events.

A total of 34 monuments along Al-Muizz Street and 67 located in neighbouring alleyways have now been restored.

- Sca Head Tours Historic Cairo, Demands Clean-up
Ahram Online (Nevine El-Aref) Antiquities czar visits Old Cairo's recently-restored Al-Muizz Street only to find that chaos still reigns Moustafa Amine, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, took an unscheduled tour of Old...

- Chaos In The Caliph's Quarters
Ahram Online (Nevine El-Aref) With three photos. Al-Muiz Street in Islamic Cairo is now totally transformed. When it was first closed off into a pedestrian-only open-air museum, the architecture imposed a serenity and power. Unfortunately, this is no...

- Islamic Monuments In Egypt's Muizz Street Are Threatened
Youm7 (Dina Abdel Alem Mohammad Awad) After being the biggest open-air museum in the world since it was restored three years ago, Muizz Street in old Cairo turned into public car park due to the absence of security. Thus the Islamic monuments are...

- Al-muizz Street Re-opens
Al Ahram Weekly (Nevine El Aref) From the 10th to the 18th centuries Al-Muizz Street, which runs through the heart of Fatimid Cairo, gloried in its splendid Islamic architecture. In the years following it became badly run down. It has taken almost 20...

- Al-muizz Street To Be Pedestrian Zone
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/843/he1.htm"Through the different ages, Al-Muizz Street maintained its glorious position and encouraged Mamelukes, Circassians, Ayyubids and Ottomans to enhance its character by building splendid mosques, sabils (water...

Egypt