Multi-Narrative Reconstructions
of Modern Egypt
Hyperreal Projections
Projecting Hauntings of the 1952 Cairo Fire
The events of the 1952 Cairo fire were triggered by the killing of fifty Egyptian police auxiliaries by British Troops in Ismailia. The Fire consisted of lootings, destruction and arson across the downtown Region. Historians and writers such as Khaled Fahmy, Arthur Goldschmidt and many others believe that the true story of the Cairo Fire is still untold, and the mastermind and culprits behind one of the worst acts of arson to ever hit the capital remain unknown to the public. Many writers do agree that the significance of the fire became a way of reclaiming lost urban space as an act of rebellion against inequality and colonialism. The Fire paved the way for the military coup six months later leading to the end of the Mohammad Ali Dynasty and eventually the end of British Occupation.
This project uses prototypes for drawing, reconstructing and combining narratives to depict the hauntings of the 1952 Fire. The prototypes develop perspectives of Talaat Square and Shepheard's Hotel through different historical sources and accounts such as upper-class Cairenes, the ruling Egyptian Regime(King Farouk), locals(baladī), immigrants(ifranjī) and the labour movement to create new interpretations of the Cairo during this period and reveal the hybridized nature of its spaces.
Keywords: monument,orthographic projection,narratives,fragmentation,panaramic,perspective,reconstruction
Talaat Harb Square
Revealing the Dual Identity of Downtown Cairo
These depict the dual nature of Cairo that led up to the fire in 1952. The modernization of this space created a schism in the social structure resulting in inequality between foreigners and locals. Downtown Cairo contains many different experiences, histories and complex relationships. These are revealed by the differences found in both the Old Egyptian Quarter and Neoclassical Talaat Square. The dual identity of this square looks at two perspectives. First, the European city that is was said to be an elitist space accessible mostly to upper-class Cairenes and Europeans. This view is contested by historians such as Nancy Reynolds who argues that the space functioned as a hybrid of fluid mobility, goods and trade between locals and Europeans
Shepheard's Hotel
Projecting Hauntings of the 1952 Cairo Fire
Shepheard’s also located in the Downtown region became a symbol for the British Occupation, with LIFE magazine describing it in a lengthy pictorial in 1942 as a ‘British base in Cairo’. The events of the fire in 1952 left the building in ruins. The hotel stood for the glamour of Cairo and was a centre of its elite social life visited by notable guests such as President Roosevelt in 1910, and the King of Egypt whose cars were a frequent sight across the main entrance. As reported in a 1958 Associated Press release, Shepheard’s was more than a hotel, a centre of life in Cairo, a romantic setting for stories, true and fictional, about the crossroads of the world. It symbolized an era, the age of empire, the high point of colonialism.
After the events of 1952, Shepheard’s was replaced by a petrol station and parking lot. A new hotel called the “Shepheard” was built on the cornice but bared no resemblance or connection to this one. Many parts of the downtown area were renamed by the Nasser regime including the renaming of fifteen of Cairo’s Squares and streets. This signalled in clear and unmistakeable terms that the symbols of colonial rule were being erased.
