Cairo residents reconnect with city's architectural heritage - in pictures

Programme launched to 'foster a sense of ownership' over capital's centuries-old buildings

Architect and heritage management expert May Al Ibrashy, pictured, has launched a programme to 'foster a sense of ownership' over' Cairo's wealth of centuries-old buildings. All photos: AFP

Her 'participatory conservation initiative' has included opening doors to young people in one of the world's oldest Islamic cities

The Athar Lina initiative, whose name means 'the monument is ours' in Arabic, has carried out workshops, tours and summer camps in the Egyptian capital since 2012

After years of offering a children's programme that included play dates in the famous ninth-century mosque of Ibn Tulun, one of the oldest in Africa, Athar Lina started workshops for adults

The domes and minarets of Islamic Cairo are listed on the UN's World Heritage List for their historical, archaeological and urban importance'

Sites in working-class neighbourhoods have increasingly been kept locked by authorities as a means of protecting them, says conservation and cultural heritage expert Omniya Abdel Barr

Experts became worried that younger generations were growing alienated from their heritage

'We noticed that the older generations knew a lot more about the monuments and had a much deeper connection to them, because they had all these childhood memories that today's children didn't,' Ms Ibrashy says

Ms Abdel Barr says supporting 'living heritage' projects, such as creating childhood memories and organising community events, helps to give people a sense of belonging

One example of the change is the 17th-century building of Beit Yakan, pictured, once known locally as 'the dump'

Alaa Habashi, pictured, professor of architecture and heritage conservation at Egypt's Menoufia University, bought the building in 2009 and spent a decade turning it into a community space

This picture shows a view of a mashrabiya, a balcony enclosed with carved wood latticework in traditional Islamic architecture, at the historical "Beit Yakan" house, in the al-Darb al-Ahmar district of Cairo, on December 6, 2022. - In one of the world's oldest Islamic cities, communities were becoming increasingly separated from the centuries-old buildings they lived alongside -- prompting architect and heritage management expert May al-Ibrashy to launch a programme to "foster a sense of ownership over this heritage. " (Photo by Mohamed Hossam / AFP)

Mr Habashi says the loss of such heritage would be irreparable. 'These buildings are only the body, the surrounding community is the soul,' he says

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