Egypt: In the old Islamic city of Cairo, residents are guardians of heritage
Émilien Cassard, private correspondence in Cairo (Egypt)
Published on
Imam Al-Shafei neighborhood in Cairo, May 2023. Here, residents were unable to prevent the government from partially destroying one of the oldest necropolises in the Islamic world. Hadeer Mahmoud / Reuters
The Athar Lina association relies on the residents of Cairo's Al-Khalifa neighborhood to revive its many medieval monuments and boost local activity. This is a gentle form of resistance, in contrast to the destruction wrought a few kilometers away in the Egyptian capital.
La Croix gives you the opportunity to offer this item to your loved ones for free.
Subscribe to La Croix and offer this article to your loved ones for free.
I subscribeOn the first floor of a recently renovated old house in the Al-Khalifa neighborhood, Sheima oversees a sewing workshop. Around a large table, a dozen women hand-embroider patterns they've created themselves onto pieces of colorful fabric. "Here, the neighborhood cats and dogs, there, the kites flown by children at the foot of Saladin's citadel—everything, from the design to the completion, comes from our memories of the neighborhood," the forty-year-old woman proudly explains, her face surrounded by a floral scarf.
This article is reserved for subscribers
La Croıx
