2023-08-25 18:17:53
Will the largest necropolis in the Middle East disappear? In Cairo, part of the “City of the Dead” is threatened with destruction to make way for a road bridge supposed to link the city center to the new administrative capital of Egypt, whose construction is underway in the middle of the desert.
Tombs over 1000 years old are threatened by demolitions. Started in 2020, the destruction was interrupted several times. But they will start again. The bulldozers have been back for a few days.
The inhabitants of the places, often very poor and who came to settle here as early as the last century as caretakers or just to escape the rise in prices in town, fear for their part being expelled. Citizens are trying to alert and document the destruction at this UNESCO World Heritage Site.
>> Read also: Egypt erects a new capital of crazy dimensions in the middle of the desert
The tomb of Mohamed Fadel Bacha, an Egyptian dignitary from the beginning of the 19th century, is emblematic of the sword of Damocles which hangs over this place. To find it, you have to sneak through the maze of streets in the great necropolis of Cairo. The building impresses with the finesse of its decorations and its dome, typical of Islamic architecture.
“Mohamed Fadel Bacha was the governor of Minya, a place in Upper Egypt, for 20 years. And he was a relative of the royal family”, explains Mostafa El Sadek in Tout Un Monde.
Workers build a bridge in the City of the Dead in Cairo on July 21, 2020. [Khaled Elfiqi/EPA – Keystone]
A millennial burial place
Passionate about history, this 62-year-old doctor has been surveying for almost ten years the some 1,000 hectares of cemeteries that surround the old city of Cairo and are full of tombs like this one.
“It was made as a cemetery as soon as Islam entered Egypt. That is to say 1400 years ago,” he notes.
Political or religious personalities, artists or simple citizens: thousands of Egyptians are buried in this funerary complex which is said to be the oldest in the Muslim world. But part of it is now threatened with demolition to make way for the imposing road development. This is the case of the vault of Mohamed Fadel Bacha.
Paint to announce the destruction
On the facade, a black mark has recently been affixed with a spray paint and a document is plastered there in two copies.
“It’s a sign that they are going to destroy it,” said Mostafa El Sadek. “There is no plan to tell us what will be removed or not. These are things that we find written on the spot.”
The doctor clarifies what is posted on the doors of the vault: “The owner of this place has made a lawsuit against the Prime Minister, the governor of Egypt and the Ministry of Antiquities. If they want to destroy, they cannot, because there is a trial,” he notes. We will therefore have to wait until the judgment.
The phrase ‘We will destroy’ is written on a building in the Imam Al-Shafi’i cemetery, June 2, 2023, in Cairo’s City of the Dead. [Hadeer Mahmoud – Archyde.com]
“An open-air museum”
Since 2020, the site has regularly seen hordes of bulldozers come to raze entire tombs, without worrying about the remains they shelter.
To warn about the situation, amateur photographer Ibrahim Tayei publishes pictures of this heritage on a Facebook page followed today by more than 8,000 people.
“For three or four years, there has been a real interest of the population for cemeteries”, says Ibrahim Tayei. “They are very important sources of documentation. They are often the main source for researchers, writers or academics. It’s like an open-air museum!”
A sensible subject
But like Mostafa Elsadek, he does not claim to be an activist or even a whistleblower, because the subject is very sensitive in Egypt. On the spot, the inhabitants of the district refuse to express themselves for fear of reprisals from the police, who crisscross the sector.
“Our role is to document,” said Ibrahim Tayei. “I want to make it clear that we are not against state construction or development projects. I think cemeteries are our memory, our heritage. It’s art. Here, it’s a place that is more than 1,200 or 1,300 years old. We want it to stay a long time,” he pleads.
The Imam Al-Shafi’i cemetery and its destroyed buildings, on May 31, 2023, in the City of the Dead, in Cairo. [Hadeer Mahmoud – Archyde.com]
Visiting the area a fortnight ago, Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli denied the accusations of demolitions. The leader, however, affirms the need to move the graves because of the unsanitary conditions. The government claims to want to install roads and gardens there, for the benefit of the inhabitants of the district.
Reportage radio: Martin Dumas Primbault
Adaptation web: ami
1692988393
#Cairo #road #construction #site #threatens #largest #necropolis #Middle #East #rts.ch