Historic Cairo.

Cairo is the greatest city of Africa and perhaps of the whole Muslim world. But the extremely precious historic core, from which today's huge metropolis grew, is in great danger. Jim Antoniou explains how the city developed and how lessons can be derived from the past to give hope of a living city genre.

Historic Cairo is the crumbling core of the largest city in Africa. The city now spreading over more than 450sq km, occupied by some 16 million people, has severe housing shortages and an unemployment rate of 20 per cent. In contrast to the metropolitan area, many of the historic district are ruinous and given over to virtual slums. Here, poverty, unemployment and illiteracy are combined with a lack of awareness of the value of historic buildings.

Yet historic Cairo has a distinctive architectural identity and contains the largest concentration of Islamic monuments in the world, both in quality and in quantity. The historic components are included in Unesco's Heritage List, on a par with Venice. Among Cairo's monuments are mosques, mausolea and madrasas (religious schools) built by prominent patrons between the seventh and nineteenth centuries.

There are also hammams (public baths), palaces, houses, city gates and wakalas (courtyard buildings combining multi-floor living units on the upper storeys with commercial use at ground level). A type of building unique to Cairo was the sabil-kuttab: a covered water fountain to serve the community and a simple school for teaching young children to read the Koran on the upper level.

These renowned monuments are grouped into specific quarters, with significant areas converging on the citadel. In fact, the location of the citadel is crucial to the whole composition of historic Cairo, providing visual links between its immediate surroundings, the historic city and the extensive cemeteries. To describe the role of these components of Cairo unfolds the history of the city's development.

Beginnings

Old Cairo is the pre-Islamic area to the south, not far from the River Nile. This sit is related to that of the Roman fort which guarded the Nile crossing. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, many churches were built there. Numerous Coptic monuments survive to this day.

Al-Fustat (meaning an army camp) was the capital founded close to the Christian fort when Muslin armies marched through Sinai to bring Islam to Africa in AD 641. Here, the Arab conqueror, Amr Ibn al-As built the first mosque in Africa, now extensively rebuilt out of all recognition.

Successive rulers built their own new towns on high ground towards the north of al-Fustat. Al-Askar was founded in 752, although nothing remains of this settlement. Some 120 years later, a new conqueror, Ahmed Ibn Tulun built a town called al-Qata'i. Hardly anything remains of the original town (about the size of the City of London), except the magnificent mosque of Ibn Tulun, still the largest place of worship in Cairo. When this complex was completed in the ninth century, Venice was nothing more than a collection of timber huts.

By 974, a new princely city named al-Qahira was built by the conquering Fatimids, this time with walls and several gates to keep the rulers apart from the inhabitants of al-Fustat. Later, the name al-Qahira (the Victorious) was corrupted by Italian traders into the modern Cairo. The only surviving buildings of this period are al-Azhar mosque (subsequently modified over the centuries) and the theological college (established in 989). However, the present street pattern still reflects the original alignment of thoroughfares, as in the main spine al-Muizz al-Din Street and almost parallel to the east, al-Gamaliya Street. Some of the physical remains still belong to the Fatimid period, with fine examples of richly decorated facades in solid masonry (for example, the exquisite al-Aqmar mosque, the spectacular north wall with its two impressive gates and Bab Zwaylla dominating the entrance to the south). For the first time, a distinctive architectural style was created in the historic city which set high standards for buildings over the centuries that followed.

At first, the two cities lived distinctly, with separate lives, even though they were within walking distance from each other. Al-Qahira was the seat of the Khalif. Common people could only enter the royal city by special permit. In al-Fustat, not unlike the historic city today, there were many ruined houses. This was partly due to the system of joint ownership of properties, leading to frequent disputes and chronic neglect of repairs. It was also partly due to the high cost of trained labour, compared to low rents.

The combined population of the two cities was about 500 000, making it one of the largest urban centres in the eleventh century. Here, goods could be bought from as far away as Western Europe or as remote as China.

From the encampment at al-Fustat grew the Muslin capital, leading to the sprawling giant of modern Cairo of today. Archaeologists regard al-Fustat as a major excavation site, with valuable information, particularly in the firm of documents and artifacts, relating to living conditions. Others see its 300 hectare extent as a valuable piece of real estate, in a city where pressure for land remains acute, particularly due to its proximity to the capital's central area.

Citadel

The Citadel was the first major expansion outside the Fatimid area. After destruction by fire in 1168 of the defenceless al-Fustat (to avoid occupation by the crusaders), the population crowded into the walled city of al-Qahira. The citadel was built on the spur of the Mokattan hills by the new conqueror, Salah-ad-Din Ibn Ayyub (Saladin) from 1176 onwards. It became the focus of new power and administration.

The majority of Salah-ad-Din's successors lived in the citadel until the nineteenth century. By the time a Turkish styled mosque and palace were built, the expanded citadel was no longer a fortress. Covering an area of about 23 hectares, it remains the largest and best preserved fortification in the Middle East. Surrounded by open land, its location still dominates the urban fabric of the historic city, offering magnificent views as far as the pyramids at Giza.

The officers in Salah-ad-Din's army were Mamluks (meaning those who are owned). They came to Cairo in waves, originally from the slopes of the Volga, near the Caspian Sea and dominated Cairo between 1250 and 1517. Their long rule made Cairo glorious.

Some of the most splendid architecture dates from the Mamluk period, when large complexes were created. One of the most ambitious was built by Sultan. Mohammed Ibn Qalaun in 1284-85, incorporating an impressive street facade of nearly 70m, including a madrasa, a mausoleum and a hospital. Similarly, 50 years later, Sultan Hassan built a monumental mosque near the citadel, based on a cruciform plan, with a madrasa in each corner.

Power from one Mamluk to another was rarely handed down peacefully, but rather seized by separate groups of slave lords who nominated their own Sultan. Their long successful rule made the Mamluks into a glorious age in the history of Cairo.

Cemeteries

The historic cemeteries are divided into two major areas. The south cemetery is east of the site of al-Fustat and the north cemetery to the east of the historic city. The south cemetery has been the main burial place since the Muslin invasion. It contains concentrated groups of monuments in contrast to the linear pattern of the north cemetery, where the tombs and mausoleums of the Mamluks are to be found. Here, large monumental funerary complexes formed urban nuclei. These monuments required large numbers of staff to maintain the building and were linked to commercial interests as part of endowments which provided income for their upkeep. Major complexes are dedicated to the Mamluk Sultans of Barquq, Barsbay and Qaytbay. The latter is regarded as the jewel of architecture of that period in Cairo, incorporating tomb, madrasa and a sabil-kuttab.

There has always been a tradition of the living residing among the dead. Due to acute population pressures, more than 200 000 people now live and work around the tombs, and have few basic services. Demographic pressures and a lack of housing have resulted in considerable building activity close to the monuments. Bulaq was built by the Mamluks as a separate small town in the fourteenth century. At a distance of 1.5km, north of the historic city, it eventually became the main port of Cairo. During the Ottoman period (1517-1790), trade with Istanbul increased and Bulaq prospered. Many of the 45 wakalas still survive close to the mosque of Sinan Pasha. Today, some 40 000 people live there and are employed in workshops associated with iron works and the motor trade.

Cairo's development

Napoleon advanced on Cairo in 1798 and with his modern army finally defeated the overdressed and heavily armed Mamluks. Mohammed Ali, an Albanian officer in the Turkish army, murdered the remaining Mamluks of influence in the citadel in 1811 and adopted Egypt as his private estate. Napoleon's team of experts produced the now famous study Description de l'Egypte in 1825 and reintroduced Cairo to straight streets and open squares.

Mohammed Ali extended Cairo to the north-west; his successors and the British from 1882 transformed the capital into a European city, adding broad boulevards, new districts and in 1906 a spectacular new town called Heliopolis. Meanwhile, the traditional city of Cairo was largely ignored and neglected, with rising densities and poor living conditions.

The historic city today

The historic city, an area of nearly 4sq km, is at the heart of the metropolitan area and is under immense pressure for change, leading to the erosion of its traditional identity. Al-Azhar Road, a major east to west route, divides the historic city into two parts, linked only by a metal bridge. Large new buildings on either side are changing the pattern of land use and bite into the traditional urban fabric.

Over the last 30 years, the historic city has lost a third of its population, although pockets of high density and overcrowding remain. As many as half of the 310 000 inhabitants are estimated as living below the poverty line. Some 30 000 squatters (almost 10 per cent of the population) are without security of tenure, living in shacks, on vacant land and in ruined buildings.

The boundaries of the historic city run from the city wall on the east, to Port Said Street on the west. The two gates, Bab al-Futuh and Bab al-Nasr define the north boundary, while the mosque of Ibn Tulun marks the extent to the south. This north to south axis is equivalent to the distance between Marble Arch and Holborn Circus in London, or the Arc de Triomphe to the Louvre in Paris, or Rockefeller Center to Washington square Park in Manhattan.

The character of the historic city is expressed in narrow busy streets, with continuous development, mostly of even height. Traditionally, the historic city was divided into ethnic neighborhoods or haras, with their own network of streets and main gates which were closed at night. The haras are no longer social entities, but parts of their street networks still exist, as do several gateways.

This pattern results in small spaces and corners at junctions which provide essential commercial space for neighbourhoods. Above these bustling streets hover the large mosques, with their domes and minarets. In contrast, extensive entities such as the mosque of al Hakim, Sultan Hassan and Ibn Tulun stand out from the homogeneous texture of the historic city.

Due to intensive use of land, open recreational space accounts for less than one per cent of the total area, compared with 25 per cent for thoroughfares. The few open spaces are dominated by parked vehicles. Similarly, internal spaces are small. Consequently, the street environment (both commercial and residential) is an important substitute for open space as a place for activities and social interaction.

In fact, local people express a traditional right over the use of public space. The concept of al-Fina plays a major role in creating the street environment. Al-Fina involves a relationship between the inner space of a building, its frontage and part of the pavement area in the street. Similarly, residential streets play a role in social and family events, such as weddings and funerals.

Contemporary building codes recognized the importance of al-Fina and allow for projections over the streets, provided vehicular or pedestrian traffic is not obstructed. In reality, a property owner regards the pavement area as a legitimate extension to his facade and feels free to create an appropriate setting for selling and living. This spilling out of activities into the street necessitates the use of the roadway for walking. Yet this method of occupying the street makes good economic sense and adds to coherence in the community.

Saving the old

Resources available for preserving the heritage are inadequate for the magnitude of the task. In spite of numerous plans and endless studies, a legally defined geographic area does not exist as a designated conservation and action zone, onto which Government and other agencies can focus within a planned framework. In particular, tourist potential has yet to be fully exploited, resulting in a lack of employment opportunities and community involvement.

The poor condition of the infrastructure (particularly relating to the ground water problem) has been one of the most important contributing factors to the rapid deterioration of the monuments and all buildings. As a result of the 1992 earthquake, historic buildings have deteriorated further: walls have cracked, minarets tilted, while many monuments are still clad in scaffolding.

Wealth and power are now concentrated outside the historic city, so there is little influential interest in its condition. Local communities with meagre resources have been held responsible for the level of deterioration. Consequently, the authorities see the improvement of the heritage as being achieved through a policy of relocation of the poor inhabitants. Yet the city cannot be enhanced in isolation from the people who live and work there. A great deal can be achieved by working with the communities.

There are also overlapping responsibilities and confusion between the various authorities in relation to the monuments and the administration of the historic city. Most of the demolitions, damage and disfigurements carried out in the historic city are permitted developments under the rules and regulations currently in force. Laws prohibit renovation of buildings adjacent to monuments, to encourage collapse in order to create a vacant space as 'protection' from development. Similarly, rent controls discourage maintenance. Official permits for manufacturing industries (anything from copper smelting, timber yards, marble cutting to car repair yards), in or adjacent to historic buildings create air, noise and visual pollution and have a negative impact on the monuments.

Of the 313 listed buildings within the historic city itself, more than 95 per cent are owned by the Ministry o Waqf (religious trust arrangements). Yet responsibility for the monuments rests with the Supreme Council of Antiquities, whose resource capacity is limited to only five or six building restorations per year.

Moreover, a lack of urban management leads to institutional paralysis and the inability to marshal resources. Consequently, the international community seems powerless to make a significant contribution (technically as well as financially). The urgency of the situation requires the attention of the highest levels of Government to initiate and sustain a sound policy for rehabilitation. Such a decisive move would encourage the international community to participate technically and financially on a large enough scale.

Rehabilitation plans

To resolve these problems, 'The Rehabilitation of Historic Cairo Project' was undertaken over a period of a year by the United Nations Development Programme in association with the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The aim of this project was to preserve and respect the urban heritage and improve the quality of life of its inhabitants. The two components were seen as being equal and inseparable.

The three main parts of the project are: first, the framework plan, second, the identification of packages for specific action and funding by international donors and, third, government agencies and an organization structure for an overseeing implementation authority to surmount the many obstacles that impede action at the moment. Eleven packages were identified from the framework plan for external financial support.

A close examination of the area shows that major monuments are in close proximity to each other and are mutually enhancing, forming natural groups. A total of nine such clusters were identified, each forming a focus for rehabilitation, upgrading and conservation. They form a general pattern along al-Muizz Street, the main spine of the historic city (and part of al-Gamaliya Street), extending southwards to the Street of the Tent Makers, then along al-Darb al-Ahmar, following the sweep of the mosque of Sultan Hassan, leading to the mosque of Ibn Tulun. The streets linking the clusters are equally important in providing continuity within a wide range of settings. The area forming the context of the clusters is referred to as 'the heritage corridor' and is the focus of tourist opportunities, requiring priority in rehabilitation, enhancement as well as conservation. However, the large majority of the remaining listed buildings require restoration, no less than those within the major corridor. They need to be restored and enhanced for re-use and incorporated into community development strategies.

Leading out of the heritage corridor, the main emphasis on the east side is on the provision of appropriate housing within the context of community development. On the west side of the corridor are the complex requirements of mixed uses. The framework plan also attempts to improve accessibility in historic Cairo while respecting the organic nature of the area. It relates the traffic to the environmental capacity, without resorting to the construction of new thoroughfares or drastic street widening. A number of rehabilitation policies reinforce the framework plan and are concerned with heritage preservation, environment and transport, infrastructure, socio-economic aspects, housing and land requirements. So the framework plan is neither a static blueprint, nor a conventional master plan, but a dynamic plan of action, adaptive and flexible.

Al-Muizz Street

The dominant route for pedestrians is al-Muizz Street, the north to south spine, from Bab al-Futuh to near the mosque of Ibn Tulun. Numerous activities take place along its length, particularly from Bab al-Futuh to the Street of the Tent Makers, these include residential uses, tourism, commercial and, increasingly, manufacturing, all of which affect the character and sequence of development.

As part of the framework plan, proposals have been put forward for a concept design plan for al-Muizz street, stretching from Bab al-Futuh to Bab Zwaylla, a distance of 1.5km. Most of the spine route is to be pedestrianized between 9am and 9pm, allowing servicing outside these hours, but with access to emergency vehicles at all times. Appropriate treatment of road surfaces and street furniture is recommended to enhance the length of al-Muizz Street between the two gates. Paving is to be kept simple and direct to express the urbane quality of the street and its irregular pattern.

Historically, Cairo consisted of a series of markets, each specializing in a particular type of product. Providing such markets increases competition, leading to product improvement, with traders offering a wide range of items at affordable prices. They also enhance a particular locality with a reputation and fame. Therefore, it is proposed to redefine and create the specialized functions and activities along the spine as a sequence of market places and wakalas. The use of specialist wakalas should be revived wherever possible along the spine and its immediate vicinity within the heritage corridor. This will encourage groups of activities in an environmentally acceptable scale of development. In this way, a wide range of wakalas can be introduced (for example, hotels, hostels, exhibition spaces, cafes and restaurants), while at the same time expanding the influence of al-Muizz Street into its surroundings.

The monuments clustering along the spine have their own distinctive character, requiring high standards of design, particularly in introducing new buildings and structures within their surroundings. One such cluster is centred on the Qalaun complex, in the vicinity of Khan el Khalili, the most frequented tourist area. With its unique architectural heritage, it is one of the most important sights of historic Cairo. Moreover, this cluster is interlinked with the adjoining one centred on al-Gamaliya Street. The paving of this irregular part of al-Muizz Street should be kept simple, with traditional materials exposing the forms of the buildings. The pattern of paving along this part of the street is to be linked to the entrance of Khan el Khalili. This should be combined with the eventual restoration of the latter, reintroducing the imposing wakalas (currently hidden behind the cluttered shop fronts), regenerating the area into a pleasant environment for the many visitors. In addition, the row of shops obscuring the wall to the Najim al Din monument should be demolished creating a wide shaded area opposite the Qalaun complex. Assistance should be given to the Supreme Council of Antiquities to restore the listed buildings within the cluster.

Careful siting of new buildings on vacant or dilapidated land should be used to enhance the prestige and importance of this monument cluster. Where substantial buildings erected over the last few decades are to remain for some time, it may be possible to provide surface treatment (for example, colour and texture) to allow poorly designed buildings to be less obtrusive in the setting.

The conservation context

The concentration of historic monuments in Cairo requires immediate action to improve and sustain the urban heritage. Of prime importance is the preservation of the physical context and the distribution of monuments. Any policy must promote rehabilitation and upgrading, as well as conservation, thereby improving the quality of life for the inhabitants. It is imperative that efforts to restore and conserve historic Cairo include renewal of the economic base, an increase in investment and the revitalization of the financial structure to both fund and maintain a restoration effort through a viable authority. The active participation of the local people is paramount to the success of any proposed action in the historic core.

The current situation is acute enough to necessitate immediate action to be taken on a large enough scale to save the fabric of historic Cairo ad its many monuments. The alternative would be to abandon the historic core to current vested interests and concentrate on saving a few individual monuments. Such an outcome would be major loss of Egypt and the whole vehicle.

Jim Antoniou has been involved with historic Cairo for many years in various projects. He was field director to the Unesco project proposals (1980); as consultant to Unesco, he was also responsible for defining areas for conservation throughout historic Cairo (1982) and has provided advice to the Supreme Council of Antiquities for many years. In 1996 he was commissioned by UNDP to write the project document for The Rehabilitation of Historic Cairo Project and has been senior consultant and adviser throughout the project period. He dew all the pictures in the article as well as writing the standards.