Chapter 25
Decolonizing the Conservation of Islamic Built Heritage in Egypt
Hossam Mahdy
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T
he conservation of Islamic built heritage in Egypt today faces many serious chal-
lenges, such as aggressive development pressures, poor public awareness, the need
for specialized capacity building, poor research quality, insufficient funding, and the
absence of political will, among others. Though these limitations are certainly relevant, I would
argue that the critical cause of all these challenges is the absence of a genuine philosophical
and theoretical framework for conservation (or historic preservation, as it is called in some
parts of the world). A technically excellent conservation project is often unsustainable due to
inefficient management and the lack of sustained maintenance, but most importantly due to
the underappreciation of the meaning and significance of historic built heritage and its role
in the life of the city.
Although Egypt’s cultural heritage offers historical roots and material evidence to support
its national identity as a modern nation-state with a great past, Islamic built heritage is less
convenient for this purpose than material from its iconic ancient period. Notwithstanding the
significance of the country’s Pharaonic heritage, this is likely because Egypt has been ruled by
non-Egyptians throughout most of the Islamic period of its history.1 The patrons of almost all
premodern Islamic architecture in Egypt were not Egyptians. Moreover, early modern neo-
Islamic architectures were usually created and patronized by Europeans, so other outsiders,
whose attention was often trained on antiquities. Another reason for excluding Islamic built
heritage from modern Egyptian national discourse has been that it is not exclusively Egyptian,
as it is shared by many other modern Muslim-majority nation-states.2
Historic Islamic buildings are often enjoyed and celebrated by the Egyptian intelligentsia
as a manifestation of high culture –not unlike high art genres such as classical music, opera,
ballet, theatre, and fine arts –from an architectural rather than functional or religious per-
spective. On the other hand, local communities in historic quarters, while holding on to their
traditional culture and arts, seem to be indifferent –if not hostile –toward Islamic built heri-
tage and its conservation, despite their apparent commitment to, and high regard of, Islam
as a religion. Most restoration projects include the appointment of guards, the installation
of security cameras, and the construction of fences around historic mosques, sabils (water
fountains), and other Islamic buildings that were initially built and endowed as inclusive and
inviting religious and charitable people-centred buildings. Such measures are meant to pro-
tect these historic Islamic buildings from vandalism and encroachments by local communities
whose use of them might –according to the professional conservators’ opinion –jeopardize
the integrity of the building-as-object.
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Gentrification and adaptive reuse for elitist cultural, leisure, and tourism-related func-
tions seem to be the preferred approach for buildings chosen for preservation. The majority
of historic Islamic buildings sit empty, either restored and open for visitation or ruined and
neglected. Some mosques have escaped this fate because of the continued use of their original
function by the local communities in their vicinities, or because of their high religious or asso-
ciational values on a national level. Other historic mosques –those of more archaeological and
architectural value and of less religious and symbolic significance –became mere tourist venues
devoid of religious and social functions. On the other hand, historic Islamic buildings that are
not listed as ‘antiquities’ are not protected by law, and, more often than not, they are damaged
by uninformed repairs, unsympathetic adaptations, neglect, and slow decay, or they succumb
to intentional demolition for a variety of reasons that are beyond the scope of this essay.3
The Colonial Roots of Today’s Practices
What is Islamic built heritage? Why should it be conserved? For whom? And how? These are
big questions that are often dismissed as useless longwinded talk. Egyptian conservators are
often preoccupied with the technical and executive aspects of conservation without addressing
their philosophical and theoretical frameworks. This is a continuation of practices from the
British colonial era (ostensibly 1882–1956 under several different political arrangements),
when European orientalists were the masterminds for the identification and conservation of
what they called at the time ‘Arab art’. They were connoisseurs and antiquarians whose inter-
ests were focused on the archaeological and aesthetic values of the Islamic built heritage.
Both the modernization and conservation in Cairo were masterminded and executed by
Europeans or European-educated Egyptians. Efforts to modernize Egypt throughout the nine-
teenth century were planned and executed according to the European model of the modern
nation-state that sought to demonstrate both modernity and historicity.4 Grand projects
endeavoured to transform Cairo into a modern city, a ‘Paris on the Nile’.5 Hundreds of his-
toric Islamic buildings were destroyed to make way for new wide boulevards that were opened
up in the old urban fabric of Cairo.6 ‘The Committee of Conservation for Monuments of Arab
Art’ was established in 1881 as a reaction to pressure from European connoisseurs of Arab art
and architecture.7 The majority of the Committee’s members were Europeans and the language
of its meetings and reports was French. The Committee identified, documented, inventoried,
studied, and restored the aesthetic, stylistic, and archaeological aspects of Islamic historic
buildings as single monuments in isolation from their urban and environmental contexts with
disregard to their functions, religious dimensions, intangible aspects, and their social inter-
ests and associations. Accordingly, listed sabils, kuttabs (elementary schools for teaching the
Qur’an, reading, and writing), madrasas (religious schools), khanqahs (convents for Sufis),
and other Islamic buildings were divorced from their original meanings and functions. The
restoration of a historic sabil, for example, included the discontinuation of the function of
offering drinking water. The justification for that was that water could damage the historic
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fabric of the building. Notably, this argument was not considered in the conservation of his-
toric fountains in Rome and all over Europe. These double standards were due to the dismissal
of the Islamic meaning and function of sabils by European conservators. Furthermore, the
Committee’s restoration of a sabil contradicted and ignored its waqf (charitable endowments)
arrangements and conditions, which are mandatory under Islamic sharia law. The label ‘Arab’
art and architecture, which was initially used to name museums, committees, and academic
departments, reflects the European colonial disregard for the fact that Islamic historic buildings
are the heritage of a living culture and faith, not mere archaeological relics of a dead culture.8
The conservation of Pharaonic heritage was also initiated, masterminded, and practiced
by Europeans throughout the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century. How-
ever, unlike the Islamic heritage, it was celebrated as the cultural heritage that identified the
country. Thus, the museum dedicated to Pharaonic artefacts in Tahrir Square was named
the ‘Egyptian Museum’, as if the heritage of other periods was not Egyptian.9 The Egyptian
national movement in the early twentieth century adopted this attitude and used Pharaonic
images and subjects to symbolize endeavours to establish an independent Egyptian nation-
state, which was copying the European concept of the Renaissance as the revival of ancient
civilizations –the Pharaonic in the case of Egypt –as the way to establish a modern nation-
state. The same attitude was continued after independence and was manifested by Pharaonic-
themed monuments and statues in public spaces, logos for governmental institutions such as
ministries, banks, universities, public-sector companies, and other expressions of the state’s
sovereignty.10 In other words, early modern heritage conservation endeavours sought to revive
the heritage of a dead civilization (i.e., Ancient Egyptian heritage) while treating a living heri-
tage (i.e., Islamic heritage) as if it belonged to a dead civilization. An explicit manifestation of
this attitude is the statue of Nahdet Masr (The Renaissance of Egypt), which was created by
Mahmoud Mukhtar and commissioned by the Egyptian national movement, led by the Wafd
Party. Depicting a woman taking off her hijab beside a rising sphinx, it was erected in the
square outside Cairo’s main railway station in 1928 [Figure 25.1]. The statue was moved after
independence to the square in front of Cairo University and its image adorned the 25-piaster
banknote as a symbol of modern Egypt.
Today, the colonial legacy from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is not limited
to Egyptians’ attitudes toward conservation, but also includes the understanding (or rather
lack thereof) of Islamic built heritage. This legacy has heavily influenced the laws that protect
the heritage, the relevant governmental institutional structures and mandates, as well as aca-
demic and professional research, education, and training in the field, all of which continue to
identify single monuments according to their material, archaeological, and aesthetic values
in isolation from their contexts, and with disregard to their intangible social and religious
dimensions. Local Muslim-majority communities are considered, as they were in colonial
times, to be a great threat facing the protection of Islamic monuments. Communities’ needs
and interests are considered a completely separate issue and irrelevant to their Islamic built
heritage.11 Today, sabils are restored as monuments with no function, or given a function that
is neither relevant to their original function nor to the needs of the local community, such as a
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Figure 25.1: Mahmoud Mukhtar, Nahdet Masr (The Renaissance of Egypt), Cairo, 1928. Source: Hossam Mahdy.
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specialized library, a museum, or a visitor centre, even when there is an obvious need for com-
munal water infrastructure for the local community [Figure 25.2]. The English translation of
the Arabic term athar as ‘antiquities’ –rather than ‘archaeology’ or ‘heritage’ –in the name of
the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities reflects the antiquarian roots and the nineteenth-cen-
tury colonial logic that continue to prevail up to the present. Moreover, the fact that ‘tourism’
precedes ‘antiquities’ in the ministry’s name reflects the continued presence of the western
visitor as the main stakeholder and target audience of the conservation and management of
Egyptian cultural heritage.
National bodies that are responsible for the conservation and management of heritage
in other Middle Eastern countries, such as Lebanon (Directorate General of Antiquities),
Syria (Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums), Jordan (Ministry of Tourism and
Antiquities), Palestine (Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities), Algeria (Ministry of Antiqui-
ties), and Libya (Department of Antiquities) carry on the European colonial legacy in their
names, mandates, and policies, as being responsible for antiquities rather than heritage and
living culture. The political system in each country is a major factor that determines formal
attitudes toward the Islamic built heritage. For example, the enthusiastic secularization of
Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk after World War I was reflected in adapting the Mosque
of Hagia Sophia into a museum. Then, the enthusiastic Islamization of Turkey under Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan during the first decades of the twenty-first century was reflected in restoring
the building to its mosque function.12 The Atatürk regime dealt with the Islamic dimension
of the building as the heritage of a dead culture, whereas the Erdoğan regime dealt with the
same building as the heritage of a living culture. Attitudes in Morocco reflect the continu-
ation of the ruling system, for which the livelihood of the Islamic cultural heritage is an
important pillar of the monarchy’s legitimacy. Accordingly, Islamic built heritage there has
been conserved and managed as a living heritage and has not suffered from the suppression
of its intangible dimensions.
Premodern Practices
Attitudes toward the built heritage in premodern Egypt were categorically different from
modern ones. They should be understood within the framework of Islamic worldviews and
value systems, which were the main basis for thought and conduct in premodern Egypt.
Notions such as history, utility, aesthetics, art, architecture, environment, sustainability, and
others that are relevant to Egyptian cultural heritage today should be understood within the
Islamic worldview.13
History is a continuum of ups and downs depending on ethical attitudes of communities
and societies. Unlike the modern popular understanding of history, humanity from an Islamic
point of view is not continuously progressing despite all technological and scientific advances.
The conservation of Islamic built heritage was therefore not carried out in premodern times
in isolation from the rest of the built environment. It was not considered the remains of a
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Figure 25.2: Sabil-Kuttab Nafisa al-Bayda, Cairo. Constructed in mid-eighteenth century, it was restored and adapted as
a bookshop in 1998 by the American Research Center in Egypt. At present it is locked up and is an example of a non-func-
tional sabil-kuttab in Cairo. Source: Hossam Mahdy.
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primitive or less advanced people but rather the living, changing setting for contemporary
life. According to the Qur’an, the causes that allow a nation to flourish or perish are the same
for all humans throughout history. Accordingly, many verses of the Qur’an instruct Muslims
to travel and visit the remains of old civilizations and see how they perished because of their
unethical attitudes despite their material advances.14
Utility and aesthetics are two faces of the same coin according to Islamic values. Indeed,
beauty and goodness are one and the same, as expressed by the Arabic word ihsan. Accordingly,
no separation is made between art and craft, or between architecture and the act of building.
And thus, art does not exist for art’s sake. Built heritage was conserved according to both sets
of values, the aesthetic and the utilitarian. An artistically written and bound Qur’an was not
conserved to be put in a glass box, but to be read. A grand mosque was not to be conserved
as a monument, but as a place for active worship and other related functions. In premodern
times, a building that lost its function or meaning was recycled to serve a new function and
meaning, rather than maintained as a relic.
Architecture is an endeavour seeking to balance and integrate many aspects, such as pro-
tection from nature and integration with it, which is expressed in architectural elements such
as courtyards, windcatchers, projecting upper floors, and lattice windows. A balance is also
sought in observing individuals’ privacy on the one hand, and on the other hand, cementing
bonds between individuals within a community. This is expressed in the inviting open doors
that at the same time keep the privacy of the interior by the design of a bent entrance. Another
integration is sought by fulfilling the tangible requirements as well as the intangible ones. This
is reached by integrating both utility and aesthetics as a manifestation of the Islamic concept
of ihsan. Thus, most architectural elements and parts of a building fulfil both functional and
aesthetic purposes. The conservation of old buildings in premodern Egypt observed the same
principles, as the same approach was adopted for both the conservation of existing buildings
and the construction of new ones.
Sustainability is central to Islamic belief and conduct. However, the motivation for
observing sustainability and its span is essentially different from the idea’s modern concep-
tion. According to Muslim beliefs, all good deeds are substantially better if they are sustain-
able as sadaqah jareyah (continuous charity), which should outlive its initiator and carry on
through the end of life on earth, thus securing the individual reward in the hereafter. The
span that the Islamic concept of sustainability covers is not a decade, a generation, or even a
century, but up to the end of human existence on earth. As for the environmental aspect of
sustainability, Muslims are instructed to both enjoy the natural environment and to assume
responsibility for its wellbeing. According to the Qur’an, the earth is created for man and
man is appointed by God as its guardian. Waste is discouraged, no matter the circumstances,
and recycling is always encouraged. In the field of conservation, historic buildings that had
lost their function and/or meaning were thus ‘recycled’ by giving them new functions and/
or meanings, or if demolished, a building’s components were used in new constructions. The
al-Azhar Mosque is a good example [Figure 25.3]. Although it was built as a Shi‘a university
by the Fatimids, the Ayyubids who made every effort to erase the Shi‘a impact on Egypt, did
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not demolish the building, but rehabilitated it as a Sunni university after a long period of
preventing its use for prayers.
The institution of waqf is the mechanism that flourished in premodern times by Muslim
communities to satisfy their needs, interests, and desires while observing their faith and
shaping their lives according to the Islamic worldview and value systems. An individual who
built a charitable institution, such as a mosque, a hospital, a sabil, or a kuttab would make
it a sadaqah jareyah by allocating money for an investment that could have been made in
farms, suqs (markets), wakalas (commercial buildings for wholesale trade), rab’s (multi-unit
residential buildings), or hammams (baths). The revenue from the investment secured the
sustainability of the charitable institution by securing its continued function, management,
maintenance, and repairs. In many cases, a charitable institution attracted other patrons in
later times to add further funds to add more investments, the revenue of which would go to
maintaining the sustainability of the institution by devoting a new waqf for the institution,
even if it was initially established by someone else.15 In other words, the waqf system was the
premodern vehicle par excellence for the sustainable conservation of functional built heri-
tage in premodern Egypt and other Muslim-majority countries.
Figure 25.3: The al-Azhar Mosque, Cairo. Source: Hossam Mahdy.
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Developments in International Thought and Practice
Attitudes and underlying philosophies of conservation practices in Egypt today are easily
traced to nineteenth-century European thought and practice. Ironically, since that time,
attitudes have changed dramatically in Europe and the whole world. The birth and devel-
opment of the international conservation movement after World War II resulted in the
foundation of the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the
creation of its 1964 Venice Charter, as well as many charters and documents that fol-
lowed and informed contemporary theories of conservation that set the standards for
best practice.16
Conservation theory and practice has developed –and continues to evolve –since the
adoption of the Venice Charter, in two main regards. The first concerns the identification,
valorisation, and scope of built heritage, the second, the methodology and scope of activ-
ities for the conservation of that built heritage. Both developments strove to move away from
the Eurocentric early beginnings of the field, in recognition of the richness and diversity of
philosophies and practices from other cultures and regions of the world. Another aspect that
influenced developments in conservation was the universal realization, acknowledgement,
and acceptance that different aspects of built heritage and its conservation are culture spe-
cific. That they, therefore, may require different approaches, methodologies, and practices in
different contexts is an understanding advanced in several charters and documents, notably
the Nara Document on Authenticity (1994).17
The identification, valorisation, and scope of built heritage has moved from the arch-
aeological and aesthetic values of single monuments to the less monumental and more
inclusive notion of places of cultural significance according to a wide scope of values,
including the social, spiritual, and functional. The types of accepted built heritage are no
longer limited to monuments and archaeological sites, but are extended to include a wide
range of other typologies such as vernacular buildings and industrial, modern, and water
heritage. The scope of heritage has also expanded geographically to include historic cities
and villages, cultural landscapes, cultural routes (such as the Silk Road linking China to
Europe), underwater heritage, and transnational serial heritage sites. Also, synergistic and
integrated approaches have been developed between different categories of heritage, such
as the tangible with the intangible, the movable with the immovable, the cultural with the
natural. The methodology and scope of activities for the conservation of the built heritage
continue to move from the technical restoration of isolated monuments to the inclusive
conservation management of sites within their contexts and with the proactive participa-
tion of communities and stakeholders. In recent years approaches and toolkits were devel-
oped to integrate the conservation of built heritage with sustainable development efforts.
For example, the historic urban landscape approach was developed by UNESCO in 2011
to integrate the conservation of built heritage within the sustainable development of his-
toric cities, as is explored in the Cairo case.
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Toward Decolonization
Nineteenth-century attitudes toward the conservation of built heritage in Europe were
logical consequences of the birth and development of a modern worldview during the
Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the Romantic era, which broke away from the trad-
itional premodern worldview. The application of such attitudes in Egypt and other Muslim-
majority countries at the time was mixed with orientalism, racism, colonialism, and other
aspects of nineteenth-century European thought that were alien to the Muslim mind, such
as archaeological research that was motivated by orientalist literature, Biblical studies, and
Darwinism.
The Eurocentric approach to the conservation of built heritage was introduced to Egypt
during the late nineteenth century with the assumption that no conservation philosophy or
practice existed in the country before its encounter with Europe. Negative attitudes about local
communities stemmed from outsiders’ assumptions about Egyptians’ supposed ignorance,
racial inferiority, and vulgar religion, all the products of orientalist and colonialist nineteenth-
century European attitudes. Egyptians who worked with early European conservators concen-
trated on the technical and practical aspects of conservation without any consistent attempt to
challenge the theoretical and philosophical bases of their technical work. They did not mind
the contradiction with the Islamic worldview, nor did they question the validity of the the-
oretical framework of their conservation practices pertaining to Islamic built heritage. Such
acceptance continued after the independence of the country, which was not limited to the
field of heritage conservation. A class of Egyptian elites who were educated in the European
tradition and who had previously supported the colonial administration of the country car-
ried on most, if not all, cultural, legal, and administrative attitudes that were established by
Europeans during the colonial period.
Today, Egyptian conservation of Islamic architecture follows and respects religiously the
notions, laws, administrative structures, academic research, and professional practices that
were established by Europeans during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This
remains the case, even after such attitudes have been almost totally challenged and dismissed
in Europe and the west. Today, international organizations such as UNESCO and ICOMOS
exercise pressure on the Egyptian government to move away from its colonial legacy, but
without much success.18
It is my suggestion that decolonization of the conservation of Islamic built heritage in
Egypt should begin with the study and validation of premodern and precolonial attitudes and
practices, and their potential reconciliation with international developments in the field. As
international best practices are moving toward attitudes that are not that far from premodern
Islamic notions –such as respect for culture-specific approaches, an inclusive and integrated
notion of built heritage that encompasses a wide scope of buildings, sensitivity and respect for
the context of the heritage and all its stakeholders –the importance of good management and
financial feasibility, and the integration of conservation and development in order to secure
a sustainable environment, have all become critical.
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Figure 25.4: The Ibn Tulun Mosque, Cairo. Source: Hossam Mahdy.
For example, the mosque of Ibn Tulun, which was built as the main Friday Mosque of Al-
Qata’i’ (the Tulunid capital of Egypt that preceded Fatimid Cairo) to accommodate a huge cap-
acity, is currently conserved and managed as an archaeological resource and a tourism venue
[Figure 25.4]. Any local who wishes to pray in the mosque must go through security screening,
which includes an identification review, body search, and metal detection by Tourism Police,
while busloads of foreign non-Muslim tourists are warmly welcomed, ushered in without
security checks, and treated favourably. Consequently, the mosque has lost its meaning and
function as an open spiritual and social hub for the local community. According to current
international best practices, the mosque should be valorised, conserved, and managed in
accordance with all its values, including religious, symbolic, social, and spiritual ones, which
should not contradict with its touristic potential. The local community and stakeholders should
be proactive in all decisions pertaining to the mosque. The conservation of the mosque should
not mean it is to be treated like an isolated monument or museum piece. It should be inte-
grated into urban conservation and sustainable development plans for its urban context. In
other words, were international best practices applied in the conservation and management
of the Ibn Tulun Mosque, the result would be an ‘Islamically conserved’ and fully functional
building, which could include a tourism program that respects the religious and social values
of the mosque in terms of visitation times and the interpretation of the building as a living and
functioning mosque and not a mere aesthetically pleasing archaeological relic.
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Conclusion
The lack of clear philosophy and rationale for the conservation of the built heritage is not
limited to Egypt. Colonial attitudes that persisted in postcolonial contexts, thanks to national
elites, can be observed with different intensities, details, and chronologies in all Muslim-
majority countries, and particularly in the Middle East. However, the case of Egypt is per-
haps an outlier since it is the first country in the region that experienced an encounter with
modern Europeans with Napoleon’s 1798 invasion of Egypt, and it is the home to an iconic and
unique ancient culture. Other Middle Eastern countries were impacted by colonialism and do
continue to carry on a colonial legacy in the field of heritage conservation, albeit in different
ways that merit individual discussions. A number of factors influence attitudes, such as the
ideology of the ruling regime and its position regarding Islam and secularization, the popu-
larity of pre-Islamic heritage for mass tourism, and the attitudes of colonial administrations
before independence. The robustness of the Middle Eastern sections at the British Museum,
the Louvre, and other western imperial museums may be seen as an indicator of the scope
and extent of European nineteenth-century colonial attitudes and practices, many of which
remain relevant in Egypt and some in other Middle Eastern countries.
A rediscovery of Islamic notions that are relevant to the built heritage and its conservation
would not only give professionals and academics a chance to develop culture-specific ration-
ales and approaches to the conservation of the built heritage, but will also equip them with a
common worldview, value system, and language that both the intelligentsia and traditional
local communities could share. This would secure an effective participatory approach to the
protection, conservation, and management of Islamic built heritage. However, this is not an
easy task. As a break from the colonial legacy will require not only a change of mentality with
firm self-confidence on the part of conservation professionals, but also –and more import-
antly –significant structural changes in legislation, institutional structures and mandates, and
other deep-rooted pillars of the Egyptian establishment.
Notes
1 The early Islamic rulers and governing elite were from the Arabian Peninsula, the Abbasids
and Tulunids were from Iraq, the Fatimids were from the Maghreb, the Ayyubids from Kur-
distan, the Mamluks from Central Asia and Eastern Europe, the Ottomans from Turkey, and
Muhammad Ali’s dynasty from Albania. Gamal Abdel Nasser was announced in the 1950s to
have been the first Egyptian ruler of Egypt since the ancient Egyptian era.
2 Ottoman architecture is found all over the lands that were once part of the Ottoman Empire.
Mamluk buildings are found in Egypt, the Levant, and Hijaz. The same could be said about
Islamic architecture from other Islamic periods such as the Ayyubid, Fatimid, and earlier ones.
3 See Hossam Mahdy, Approaches to the Conservation of Islamic Cities: The Case of Cairo
(Sharjah: ICCROM-ATHAR, 2017), 67–76.
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4 Mrinalini Rajagopalan, ‘Preservation of Modernity: Competing Perspectives, Contested His-
tories and the Question of Authenticity’, in The Sage Handbook of Architectural Theory, ed. C.
Greig Crysler, Stephen Cairns, and Hilde Heynen (London: Sage, 2021), 308–13.
5 See Mercedes Volait, ‘Making Cairo Modern (1870–1950): Multiple Models for a “European
Style” Urbanism’, in Urbanism: Imported or Exported? Native Aspirations and Foreign Plans, ed.
Joe Nasr and Mercedes Volait (London: Wiley, 2003), 17–50; Mercedes Volait, ‘Mediating and
Domesticating Modernity in Egypt: Uncovering Some Forgotten Pages’, Docomomo Journal
35 (2006): 30–35.
6 See Khaled Asfour, ‘The Domestication of Knowledge: Cairo at the Turn of the Century’,
Muqarnas 10 (1993): 125–37.
7 Many articles were published in the British media that eventually led to the establishment of
the Committee. See for example, ‘The Preservation of Mediaeval Cairo’, The Architect & Con-
tract Reporter, March 6, 1896, 153.
8 See Wided Rihana Khadraoui, ‘Arguing Semantics: What Exactly Is “Arab Art”?’, Middle East
Institute, October 3, 2017, https://www.mei.edu/publications/arguing-semantics-what-exac
tly-arab-art.
9 This elision is perpetuated in the new Grand Egyptian Museum at Giza (which, when it opens in
2022, will supersede the original Egyptian Museum), although Cairo’s new National Museum
of Egyptian Civilization does include artifacts from antiquity through the modern era.
10 See Donald Malcolm Reid, Contesting Antiquity in Egypt: Archaeologies, Museums & the
Struggle for Identities from World War I to Nasser (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press,
2015), 1–6.
11 On the rationale and approach for the massive interventions completed in Cairo by the Min-
istry of Culture during the late 1990s, see Supreme Council of Antiquities, Historic Cairo
(Ministry of Culture, 2002).
12 See also the contribution by Elif Kalaycioglu and Waleed Hazbun in the present volume.
13 See Hossam M. Mahdy, ‘Attitudes Towards Architectural Conservation, the Case of Cairo’
(Ph.D. diss., Glasgow University, 1992).
14 See, for example: ‘How many populations have We destroyed, which were given to wrong-
doing? They tumbled down on their roofs. And how many wells are lying idle and neglected,
and castles lofty and well-built? Do they not travel through the land, so that their hearts (and
minds) may thus learn wisdom and their ears may thus learn to hear? Truly it is not their eyes
that are blind, but their hearts which are in their breasts’ (Qur’an 22:45–46). See also Qur’an
12:109, 16:36, 27:69, 29:34–35, and 51:37.
15 There is a huge body of research on waqf and its role in urban and architectural manage-
ment and conservation. See for example, Pascale Ghazaleh, ed., Held in Trust: Waqf in the
Islamic World (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2011); Sylvie Denoix, ‘A Mamluk
Institution for Urbanization: The Waqf ’, in The Cairo Heritage: Essays in Honor of Laila Ali
Ibrahim, ed. Doris Behrens-Abouseif (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2000),
191–202.
16 ICOMOS, ‘International Charter for Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites
(The Venice Charter 1964)’, accessed February 20, 2021, https://www.icomos.org/charters/
venice_e.pdf. Other ICOMOS charters and doctrinal documents could be found at ‘Chartres
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Islamic Architecture Today and Tomorrow
et autres textes doctrinaux’, International Council on Monuments and Sites, October 12, 2011,
https://www.icomos.org/fr/ressources/chartes-et-normes.
17 ‘Nara Document on Authenticity’ (1994), ICOMOS, accessed May 24, 2021, https://www.ico
mos.org/charters/nara-e.pdf.
18 See UNESCO reports and recommendations on the ‘Historic Cairo’ World Heritage Site at
‘Historic Cairo’, United Nations Educations, Scientific and Cultural Organization, accessed
January 22, 2021, https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/89/documents/.
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