Thursday March 28th, 2024
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Cairo University Issues Guidelines to Preserve Its Heritage Buildings

The guide gives a brief overview of the history of Cairo University, and describes the process of preserving its heritage buildings, some of which are over a hundred years old.

Cairo Scene

Cairo University, the largest public university in Egypt, is turning back the clock by preserving its most historic and iconic buildings and landmarks. To that end they've released their guidelines for restoring their campus over the next few years in order to emphasize and celebrate the university's unique heritage.

The guide gives a brief overview of the history of Cairo University, which was privately founded in 1908 as Egyptian University, before it became a state institution in 1925 and renamed 'King Fuad I University' in 1940. It finally gained the name 'Cairo University' after the Egyptian revolution of 1952.

As the second oldest university in Egypt after Al-Azhar University, Cairo University contains over a hundred years of architectural, artistic and historic significance. So far, since renovations began in 2018, Cairo University has worked in three phases. The first phase included the dome building, the Qasr El Einy clock tower, and the walls of the university. The second phase included the external facades of the Faculties of Law and Arts, while the third phase took care of the external facades of the Faculties of Science, Economics and Political Science. Currently, Cairo University is working on the heritage library, which is being maintained by the Faculty of Arts.

According to the guide, each restorative work involved photographic documentation and registration of all the buildings with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities or the National Organisation for Urban Harmony at the Ministry of Culture, before conducting a study that will allow the University to determine the proper method of renovation.