Since its foundation by my ancestors the Fatimids in 969 (358h.), Cairo has been a vigorous
hub of Islamic culture and civilisation. In spite of tremendous urban change and growth, it
is still the richest treasure house of Islamic monuments anywhere in the world – a testimony
to the generosity and variety of its cultural and architectural achievements.
My attachment to Cairo is, however, not based purely on its history. As one of the largest and most
complex metropolises in the world, it provides dramatic insights into the full array of contemporary
development problems. It also raises the question as to how to creatively re-connect an age-old
heritage with the opportunities and demands of rapidly changing modern life, an issue which has been
very much on my mind since the creation of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture over 20 years ago.
More specifically, an increase in and improvement of scarce green surface within the city, one of the
world’s densest urban agglomerations, is an urgent priority. Often overlooked, public open spaces
have a great role to play in historic cities. Their improvement and consistent use, besides enhancing
the civic sense of the city’s inhabitants, can often act as a catalyst for collateral private investments in
urban rehabilitation.
Pursuing active urban revitalisation has become the main theme of the Historic Cities Support
Programme (HCSP), another branch of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), established in 1991.
From the beginning, the guiding principle behind this programme was to improve the quality of life of
local communities through investment in their cultural heritage and through the rehabilitation of
architecturally significant structures. This has been a goal in all earlier projects, from Baltit Fort and
the surrounding settlements in Northern Pakistan to Zanzibar and its seafront. The sites in Cairo, which
are the subject of this major HCSP project, offer a unique opportunity to implement the same principle
on a much larger scale. Here, the Trust and the other donors involved in the project have the possibility
to achieve something truly outstanding and fully commensurate with the potential of the place.
The history of this multi-faceted project, reaching back over a decade, has been an exhilarating
process of discovery and opportunity. While at the beginning the idea was to provide the metropolis
with a much-needed green space at the heart of its historic agglomeration, the progressive uncovering
of 1.3 kilometres of historic wall led to another major task – giving a new “face” to the historic city as
seen from the Park. Eventually, the conservation project for the wall itself, being inseparable from the
abutting historic city fabric, led AKTC to consider a third, equally important priority, i.e., launching a
combined physical and social rehabilitation process in the neighbouring area of the Park, the Darbal-Ahmar district. In keeping with the general strategy for HCSP projects, it was clear that the Park
construction, as well as the Historic Wall conservation, could and should also act as stimuli for the
rehabilitation of Darb al-Ahmar. Accordingly, the Trust has initiated a range of community-based urban
upgrading projects that contribute to the improvement of living conditions in the vicinity of the Park by
providing cultural, social, economic and institutional support.
Through their interaction, these three projects, which will truly transform this significant area of
Cairo, have called for a substantial increase in the human and financial resources invested by the
Trust. For the work in Darb al-Ahmar, the Trust was fortunate to find committed partners such as the
Ford Foundation and the Swiss-Egyptian Development Fund to support the ongoing rehabilitation
process, which will have to be pursued on a long-term basis beyond the completion of the Park. Similarly,
the comprehensive conservation of the Historic Wall is a five-to-eight year project. It has been established
in cooperation with the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo and will be managed by the Trust with
the participation of other organisations, such as the French Institute for Archaeology. Substantial
parts of the wall conservation and Darb al-Ahmar rehabilitation projects should be visible when the
Park opens.
