The Red Path in Egypt .. Witness to a long history of neglect

Hassan Al-Masry - Cairo

It is known as one of the oldest popular neighborhoods in Egypt, as the streets there are not free from the fragrant past, it is the Darb al-Ahmar district, one of the old Cairo neighborhoods, and it is estimated to be about ten centuries old.

The name of the neighborhood with this name is due to various narratives, the most prominent of which is because of the Mamluk massacre carried out by Muhammad Ali Pasha, the governor of Egypt against his Mamluk enemies in 1811, where it is said that the street was filled with their blood after Muhammad Ali invited them to a large feast in his palace and got rid of them, so the area was known as the Red Path.

The Darb al-Ahmar district is one of the most important popular and historical neighborhoods in Egypt and has been a witness to the history of Egypt during about a thousand years ago, where there are about 65 Islamic monuments that vary between mosques, vistas, corners, and old-style popular baths and old houses and palaces, all dating to important periods of history Egypt during the Mamluk era and the Fatimid and Ottoman Empire, perhaps the most prominent of which is Al-Moez Street for the Fatimid religion of God and Al-Azhar.

Everything in the neighborhood indicates the nobility of the past and its authenticity, represented in the streets and narrow alleys that still bear its names for hundreds of years, while architecture is most vividly illustrated in the form of geometric shapes and designs that characterize the buildings and real estate located in the path.

There the nectar of the past is breathed by the people. You see a beehive of craftsmen, workers, and workshop owners who are still working in occupations on their way to extinction, which they have inherited on the authority of a grandfather, such as jewelry, carpentry and blacksmith workshops, among others.

The legacy of the past
The fingerprints of the past are also evident in the names of streets, paths and alleys that were named according to the difference in handicrafts and their diversity, despite the change in the names of some streets. Here is the market of the arms market in which weapons are sold and maintained from spears, swords and shields, a street that is more than 700 years old.

Likewise, Al-Fahameen Street for the production and sale of charcoal, and there is also the Khayamia Street in which tents were manufactured, and the Al-Srougiyya Street whose name changed to Al-Janabiya Street and in which horse supplies were sold from saddles and horseshoes and others, and Al-Mughrabalin Street, which was named by this name due to the sifting of grains for perfumers and sellers to clean them. Of impurities there.

Perhaps the most impressive thing here is the architectural style that distinguishes buildings and streets, which is estimated to be hundreds of years old, in the form of decorations, wood and stone formations, and engineering designs of the old Islamic artistic style.

Absence of interest
Despite the historical importance of the neighborhood with its ancient streets, there is a state of neglect surrounding the ancient region, starting from the absence of interest in Islamic monuments and the spread of garbage, slums, shops and real estate around Islamic monuments, which only find people who visit it in a limited range.

Islamic monuments and heritage buildings suffer from neglect and the absence of optimal exploitation over the past period, given that they are surrounded by a lot of real estate, shops and workshops, which opens the door to the spread of garbage and is an obstacle to entering those areas within the tourism programs.

And the matter reached the prevalence of Islamic antiquities thefts that took place during the last period in a large way, according to the statement of the professor of Islamic Antiquities Mokhtar Al-Khasbany to Al-Jazeera Net.

The Spanish believes that the theft of Islamic antiquities has increased during the past years in the wake of the lawlessness and the absence of securing the archaeological sites during the period of the January 25, 2011 revolution, explaining that there is no budget allocated to the Ministry of Antiquities since its establishment, like other ministries, which slows the pace of work on restoration To the red path.

He added with the foregoing that there are heritage buildings that are not owned and are not affiliated with the Ministry of Antiquities, but rather are owners and tenants who live in them, which makes the intervention to dispose of them difficult, which requires a large budget.

It is worth mentioning that the Minister of Antiquities, Dr. Khaled Al-Annan, pledged official statements on May 31, 2018, to develop the region and to hold a memorandum of understanding between the Aga Khan Cultural Development Company and the Ministry of Antiquities for the development of the region, which was already begun but the work on it has not yet been completed.

Great neglect
The researcher in Islamic heritage, Amr Saleh, told Al-Jazeera Net that there is a great neglect of localities for the neighborhood and its streets. The place has spread to the hand of randomness after the social structure changed there.

For example, Al-Maghrabaloun Street is one of the streets that abounds with many Islamic monuments, but despite this, the ancient buildings and mosques have turned their squares into markets for street vendors for years, such as the Qasun Al-Saqi Mosque near Bab Zuweila which was built in 1330.

There is also the Jani Bey Al-Ashrafi Mosque, which was owned by Sultan Al-Ashraf Barsbay, one of the Mamluk sultans. It was built in 1427.

He pointed out that one of the most prominent monuments of Al-Mughrabilen Street, which is no less important than Al-Moez Street for the Fatimid religion of God, is the cornerstone of Abdul Rahman Katkhuda, which was established about three centuries ago, and is considered one of the most beautiful monuments of its origin, the Egyptian Prince in the era of the Fatimid state, and it consists of two ground floors containing shops and the second containing Great prayer hall.