- Site-specific cases
Throughout the megacity of Cairo ( the capital of Egypt ) , hundreds of historic apartment buildings, villas, public buildings from the 19th and 20th centuries have been destroyed since the 1970s . Buildings were previously demolished without having any chance to be protected or at least be archived properly.
The official government apparatus has failed miserably to effectively stop this destructive process which has been fueled by government policies and laws. Such laws were exploited by the development and real estate industries. Several organizations have been created but they only function within the government structure which they need to fight on behalf of public good and society at large.
In this situation digital archiving seems to be an alternative that at least keeps the records of a historical building before it is too late. This project aims for available data to be digitally captured and archived for future purposes.
A building stands partially demolished after bulldozers cleared the way for construction of a multilane freeway through the Northern Cemetery, part of the historic City of the Dead, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, July 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)
A city in danger of losing its heritage
A tomb from the early 20th Century stands partially demolished amid construction of a new highway through the Northern Cemetery in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, July 26, 2020.
(AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)
Photograph by Michel Hanna, 2019. Reproduced with permission.
An example of 1930s architecture in the district of Qubbah Gardens in northern Cairo. The architect and patron of the building are unknown, like much of the architectural production of the era. It appears this is the last remaining structure of the kind in its environs, the rest has long been demolished and replaced with the common real-estate high-density construction.
One of the most spectacular urban transformations since 2011 has taken place at the heart of historic Cairo in one of the most revered districts, al darb el ahmar. Numerous buildings have been destroyed dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The problem is not only in the en-mass demolition but also the speedy constructions that have risen above 10-stories dwarfing all that remains of the city’s once intact historic neighborhood with an accumulated heritage of domestic architecture.
