The story of two cities in Egypt .. Azbakia Park, which divided the capital Khedive

Imran Abdullah

The Azbakia Park in Cairo was considered the heart and center of the Alawite family capital throughout the 19th century.After filling the pond that mediated the square, a modern garden was established by the French architect Barel Deschamps, and Khedive Ismail established the French Comedy Theater and the Khedive Opera House.

Khedive's ideas have given the city another face by saying, "My country is no longer in Africa, we are a piece of Europe." However, historians argue that Ismail's architectural modernization style transformed Cairo into two completely different cities, not a single city. .

However, the garden, the theater, and the Khedive opera became a destination for Egyptian and foreign celebrations, including the Khedive feast, military music, ceremonial marquees, celebrity singers, city planning and hotels overlooking the place played a major role in transforming Azbakiya from a mere garden into a new culture and social class.

Ismailia Cairo
Duke University scholar Adam Mistian argues that Khedive Ismail, the fifth Alawite ruler who ruled from 1863 to 1879, had an "authoritarian scheme" aimed at culturally transforming Cairo into the capital of the Alawite dynasty in Egypt.

There is agreement among historians that Khedive's visit to the World Expo in Paris in 1867 was decisive in the implementation of his plan.He was fascinated by the French capital.He asked Napoleon III to commission the Paris plan by George Eugene Haussmann to design the planned Khedive Cairo.

After nearly five years of rapid reconstruction, Khedive opened in 1872 Mohamed Ali Street, which connects the iron gate and the castle, and then opened the bridge of the Nile Palace and decorated with four of the lions carved in Italy, and opened the bridge Abu Ela designed by the architect Gustave Eiffel famous tower designer in Paris its name.

She inspired Paris Khedive to prepare for the opening ceremony of the Suez Canal in 1869, and Ismail borrowed a lot of money to be able to hold the huge ceremony, according to Mistian study published in the Journal of Urban History published by the University of Cambridge.

Later, the opening of Clot Bey Street and the Egyptian Opera House in 1875, which mediated the most important districts of Cairo at the time, and was considered a witness to the love of Khedive art and modernization ideas.

In addition, Ismail constructed railways and tram lines inside Cairo, around the Nile, and established a water, sanitation and lighting network, and built sidewalks and gardens.

Tale of Two Cities
The cost of Ismail's reforms was high, as Britain and France imposed double control over Egypt's finances, and the two European powers intervened to put pressure on the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who issued a firman to isolate Khedive Ismail and appoint his heir, Tawfiq Pasha, who became responsible for a heavy legacy of debt.

According to American sociologist Gant Abu-Lughod, Ismail's imagined ideas and his comparison between Paris and his "crumbling capital" are what prompted him to "polish Cairo," according to her study "The Story of Two Cities: The Origins of Modern Cairo."

French historian and Orientalist André Raymond called the Cairo transformations a "cleansing", and many historians note this pattern of "double cities" in non-Western countries around the world. These cities are a common legacy of the colonial past and ancient cities, but with increasing tendencies of independence. Nationalism and new generations are slowly blending, but it may take generations before the border between the two overlapping cities is removed.

Garden and music
Khedive established the Azbakia Park, which quickly turned into a square for public, elite, and associations parties after the completion of the planting of the park, and set up nearby the High Court of Justice, a hospital and Shepherd and Continental hotels and others.

In order to implement his plan, Khedive sought to make it a recreational headquarters for the people as well.The garden witnessed the celebrations of Sham al-Naseem and the Prophet's birthday.The neighborhood witnessed a great revival with the keenness of Khedive Ismail to be a representative of his new state.She was established along with opera, casinos and cafes that offer coffee, tobacco, hashish and music.

These developments in Azbakia, especially with foreign, Greek, Italian and Armenian cafes, were considered a kind of loss of Cairo to the Arab face. In addition, the neighborhood became a gateway to the capital with the port of Bulaq and the train station.

Azbakia became a gateway to labor migration from the countryside of Egypt. In addition, the park and its environs (such as the Moski) became a shopping area, and royal palaces also continued to be built close to the square, according to Mistian's study published in Cambridge University Journal.

Independence through art
Azbakia's planning cannot be separated from Khedive's independent policies. Ismail tried, through the Suez Canal concert to generously support theaters and spend on French and Italian art institutions and Arab magazines, to gain international recognition, even at the expense of the aggressive demolition of ancient areas.

Modern public parks that blend entertainment with public health were "modern craziness" in the Ottoman, British and French empires as well as in the new United States.Khedive Ismail may have been inspired by the style of Paris public gardens or Istanbul gardens such as Taksim, according to the Mistian study published in the Journal of Urban History.

Because these Khedive concerns did not meet the demands of all Egyptians whose concerns were different, Khedive Ismail's reforms were interpreted as an "authoritarian modernization."

The opera performed French ballet, which symbolizes a European and Western entertainment style par excellence, and contributed to the creation of a new urban elite, including Arabs, Turks, Egyptians, Jews, Armenians, Greeks and Italians who all formed part of the Egyptian modernist culture, and the opera audience is composed of the Egyptian Ottoman court and the European bourgeoisie migrating to Egypt. In return, the circus made public performances that were announced in Arabic.

These Ismaili reforms show part of the new state that Khedive tried to build with Enlightenment ideas combining European and Ottoman influences.However, his project did not last long, and soon became the Ismailia Square (now Tahrir Square), which Ismail wanted to resemble the Champs-Elysees as the headquarters of the British army barracks since the arrival of the troops. English to him in 1882.