Shopping street, Cairo
Jun 10, 2010 17:05:27 GMT
Post by onlymark on Jun 10, 2010 17:05:27 GMT
Talaat Harb Street
In the late 19th century DownTown Cairo was established, in Arabic it is called Wust El-Balad (which means the centre of the city, funnily enough).
The area, designed by French architects, was once home to the prosperous elite of late 19th and early 20th Century in Cairo.
Decades of neglect by the landlords and tenants, since the exodus of the expatriate community after the revolution of 1952, led to the state of the buildings as they are today. At one time there were regulations (probably are still) for the preservation of the buildings and their usage, but since many commercial establishments see no value to them of maintaining the buildings, they don’t.
The ‘main street’ of this area is known as Talaat Harb Street, named after Mohammed Talaat Harb who was a leading economist –
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talaat_Harb
Originally it was called Suleiman Pasha, a French born Egyptian military commander, but renamed in 1954 after the revolution when Nasser wanted to rid the country of reminders of the British occupation and the Muhammed Ali dynasty.
Talaat Harb Street (Sharia Talaat Harb) runs a distance of about a kilometre from Tahrir Square on the east side of the Nile and is close to the Egyptian Museum.
The street is a central hub for backpackers and tourists, it has many budget hotels, some fast food, internet cafes and lots of touts. Anyone who has been to Cairo has no doubt had a walk up and down it, braved the crowds, traffic and hassle, and then run for cover as fast as possible.
It is also the home of a famous(?) place called the Yacoubian Building. A book by Alaa al Aswany released in English in 2004, set around 1990 and describes the comings and goings of the people, the occupants of the building and the area since the 1952 Coup.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yacoubian_Building
One thing to note is that the description of the real life building, placed at number 34 Talaat Harb Street bears little if no relation to the actual building itself.
What follows are a large number (sorry) of photos of the street and the buildings.
Firstly we establish we are on the right street (in other words, as I know exactly where I am, I wanted you to know I’d not cheated and just walked down any old place)
I’ve walked down one side, starting at the top and then returned across the street. Near the top is the Yacoubian building, at the bottom is Tahrir Square.
We start with –
Look down the street –
Looks quite deserted doesn’t it?
The reason is that your intrepid reporter, knowing how busy it gets, arrived at 7am to give him half an hour or so until it became near impassable before 8am. That’s also why the sun is low.
Right at the end of the street in the distance the sun is shining on the Mogamma. A building constructed with Russian money by the government to house virtually all the admin side as regards the bureaucracy involved by the common man with living in the country. We’ll see more of it later.
To continue –
Every so often I’ve turned and noted what is down the side alley/street -
Oh dear, can’t get away from them –
Note the French influence –
Then we come to this building –
Not very dramatic or original is it?
Then we check the house number –
Number 34, Talaat Harb Street. The Yacoubian Building.
Just down the street is one that looks a little more like it should be the place, but it’s not –
The shops below it –
Then the local cinema –
Have a look back the way I’ve just come to see the Yacoubian again, it’s the next one along from the one with the pillars –
We continue with our stroll –
See the most modern building on the street, and looks totally out of place –
Yeah, right. You must be joking –
A-ha! –
Spotted a Chinese restaurant. I hope it’s cleaner than their sign -
More of the street showing one of the budget hotels. The hotel usually just occupies one or two floors in the whole building –
The old music hall/cinema –
Down the side and moving further on –
Then we come to Talaat Harb Square with a statue in the middle of the great man himself –
Note the modern technology of the traffic light, the sign for the cctv camera which is supposed to catch you driving through a red light, and the countdown numbers to when the light will change. All this has happened in the last year -
Some of the buildings around the square (or rather, circle) –
This building features in one or two photos of what the Yacoubian Building is. But it isn’t this one at all –
It is actually the location of Groppi’s, a famous cafe and meeting place with an interesting history –
www.egy.com/landmarks/96-06-15.shtml
In the late 19th century DownTown Cairo was established, in Arabic it is called Wust El-Balad (which means the centre of the city, funnily enough).
The area, designed by French architects, was once home to the prosperous elite of late 19th and early 20th Century in Cairo.
Decades of neglect by the landlords and tenants, since the exodus of the expatriate community after the revolution of 1952, led to the state of the buildings as they are today. At one time there were regulations (probably are still) for the preservation of the buildings and their usage, but since many commercial establishments see no value to them of maintaining the buildings, they don’t.
The ‘main street’ of this area is known as Talaat Harb Street, named after Mohammed Talaat Harb who was a leading economist –
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talaat_Harb
Originally it was called Suleiman Pasha, a French born Egyptian military commander, but renamed in 1954 after the revolution when Nasser wanted to rid the country of reminders of the British occupation and the Muhammed Ali dynasty.
Talaat Harb Street (Sharia Talaat Harb) runs a distance of about a kilometre from Tahrir Square on the east side of the Nile and is close to the Egyptian Museum.
The street is a central hub for backpackers and tourists, it has many budget hotels, some fast food, internet cafes and lots of touts. Anyone who has been to Cairo has no doubt had a walk up and down it, braved the crowds, traffic and hassle, and then run for cover as fast as possible.
It is also the home of a famous(?) place called the Yacoubian Building. A book by Alaa al Aswany released in English in 2004, set around 1990 and describes the comings and goings of the people, the occupants of the building and the area since the 1952 Coup.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yacoubian_Building
One thing to note is that the description of the real life building, placed at number 34 Talaat Harb Street bears little if no relation to the actual building itself.
What follows are a large number (sorry) of photos of the street and the buildings.
Firstly we establish we are on the right street (in other words, as I know exactly where I am, I wanted you to know I’d not cheated and just walked down any old place)
I’ve walked down one side, starting at the top and then returned across the street. Near the top is the Yacoubian building, at the bottom is Tahrir Square.
We start with –
Look down the street –
Looks quite deserted doesn’t it?
The reason is that your intrepid reporter, knowing how busy it gets, arrived at 7am to give him half an hour or so until it became near impassable before 8am. That’s also why the sun is low.
Right at the end of the street in the distance the sun is shining on the Mogamma. A building constructed with Russian money by the government to house virtually all the admin side as regards the bureaucracy involved by the common man with living in the country. We’ll see more of it later.
To continue –
Every so often I’ve turned and noted what is down the side alley/street -
Oh dear, can’t get away from them –
Note the French influence –
Then we come to this building –
Not very dramatic or original is it?
Then we check the house number –
Number 34, Talaat Harb Street. The Yacoubian Building.
Just down the street is one that looks a little more like it should be the place, but it’s not –
The shops below it –
Then the local cinema –
Have a look back the way I’ve just come to see the Yacoubian again, it’s the next one along from the one with the pillars –
We continue with our stroll –
See the most modern building on the street, and looks totally out of place –
Yeah, right. You must be joking –
A-ha! –
Spotted a Chinese restaurant. I hope it’s cleaner than their sign -
More of the street showing one of the budget hotels. The hotel usually just occupies one or two floors in the whole building –
The old music hall/cinema –
Down the side and moving further on –
Then we come to Talaat Harb Square with a statue in the middle of the great man himself –
Note the modern technology of the traffic light, the sign for the cctv camera which is supposed to catch you driving through a red light, and the countdown numbers to when the light will change. All this has happened in the last year -
Some of the buildings around the square (or rather, circle) –
This building features in one or two photos of what the Yacoubian Building is. But it isn’t this one at all –
It is actually the location of Groppi’s, a famous cafe and meeting place with an interesting history –
www.egy.com/landmarks/96-06-15.shtml