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

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

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  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

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

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  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

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  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

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

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  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

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

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  '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

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  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

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

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  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

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  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)

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  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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