We are the city. We are the hustle and bustle and those endless walks amidst ancient buildings, leaning on trees that watched our grandparents grow. We are the streets that twist and turn, widen and narrow down to small alleys that bear the treasure of time. We are those old songs that get remixed and never fall out of fashion. We are the city that owns the truth and all our versions of it.
At the premises of the Bosat Cultural Centre in the Hadayeq El-Qobba district of Cairo, many young people gathered to join the monthly cultural tour. Bosat, housed in a renovated old villa in the heart of one of Cairo's heritage districts, Hadayeq El-Qobba, was founded in 2009 as an NGO that focused on cultural activities, as Doaa AlSharif, co-founder of Bosat, explained to Ahram Online.
The Monthly Tours of Bosat focuses on the intangible cultural heritage of Egypt, exploring various districts and highlighting its landmarks and cultural icons that have helped shape the country's cultural heritage. This month's tour is titled Arts of El-Qobba (Dome).
Whose Dome?
"El-Qobba (Dome) district was named after the Dome of Mahdi Ben Yashbak ( built in 1477 A.D), which is located in the centre of the district. Ben Yashbak was a dawadar (Royal Clerk) during the reign of Sultan Qayed Baey. He was one of the Sharaksa Mamluks, and he built this Mamluk-style Dome as a Qobbet Manzara, meaning a dome to express the beauty of architecture, neither a mosque nor a mausoleum.
It wasn't till the reign of Khedive Ismail that Prince Mostapha Fadel built an Ottoman-style mosque right next to the Dome, which is now known as the mosque and mausoleum of Omar El-Ansari," explained Doaa Al-Sharif, co-founder of Bosat and our tour guide for the day.
This district was founded as a promenade for sultans and princes to enjoy, like a resort with lots of gardens, continued Al-Sharif, explaining that later, Ibrahim Pasha, who was fond of gardens and known to introduce the concept of public gardens in Egypt, built a small kiosque near the Dome, however it was Khedive Ismail who built the Qobba palace, which was the popular venue for royal weddings and celebrations and it was first opened to celebrate the royal weddings of the children of Khedive Ismail.
The year 1907 saw the construction of new residential districts such as Heliopolis. El-Qobba Gardens was founded by Mansour Naguib Shakkour, whose name is still on the main street of the El-Qobba district.
Qobba Gardens
Naguib Shakkour was the general supervisor of the Egyptian railways. By the time he retired, he had co-owned the Qobba Gardens company with two Belgian engineers. They constructed 13 villas surrounded by massive greenery.
The Lama Brothers' Studio
The El-Qobba district was the hub of the Egyptian film industry. Due mainly to the abundance of greenery and the grand architectural villas that made the perfect setting for movies, Naguib Shakkour Street saw the birth of Cinema Studio.
Among the iconic figures of the Egyptian film industry are the Lama Brothers (Badr and Ibrahim Lama), Palestinian Catholics who founded their film company in Alexandria. In 1937, they established their Cinema Studio in the Qobba Gardens district, on a street named after the founder of the district, Naguib Shakkour.
The Lama Brothers studio was a spacious facility that could accommodate the simultaneous shooting of two films. They produced Egypt's first film, titled A Kiss in the Desert. The Lama Brothers were more focused on historical and documentary films. They produced films such as Cleopatra, Saladin, Manazer Al Qahera (Scenes from Cairo), Akef Sons, and the Bedouin film A Kiss in the Desert. They also shot several films in Palestine, especially in the city of Yafa. However, in 1941, a major fire broke out in their studio, and things went downhill from then on. Due to a tragic incident, the family gradually shifted focus from the cinema altogether. Unfortunately, the studio's premises have been replaced by a tall, modern building on the same street.
Studio Galal
Studio Galal was founded by one of Egypt's iconic cinematic families. It all started with the arrival of producer and actor Asia from the Levant to Egypt in the early 1920s, where she founded her production company, Isis Film. She worked closely with Egyptian Director Ahmed Galal and was one of the pioneering women in the Egyptian film industry. In 1941, her niece Marie Queeny came to Egypt and joined her in running the company, producing and acting in several films. Then Marie Queeny and director Ahmed Galal got married and founded the Galal Studio in August 1944. They launched the studio on their wedding anniversary.
Studio Galal had seven plateaus and was built on an area of 17,000 square metres, mostly gardens. When director Ahmed Galal passed away, Marie Queeny ran the studio until it was nationalised in the early 1950s.
In the late 90s, Egyptian director Rafaat El Mehi rented the studio for his private Cinema Academy, and renowned director Youssef Chaine loved to shoot his films there.
The palace of Naguib El Rehany
Iconic Egyptian comedian Naguib El Rehany owned a mansion on an area of five feddans of agricultural land. He wanted to live next to his ex-wife, renowned artist Badiaa Masabny. Sadly, he died before taking residence in his new house, and the building, which has become a Cultural Palace under the Ministry of Culture, still bears his name.
Cinema Honolulu
George Abiad, a renowned theatre figure, and his wife, the famous actress Dawlat Abiad, lived in Qobba Gardens and founded Cinema Honolulu on the backstreet of their home in 1944. It was an open-air cinema and theatre complex.
The Kattan hand-woven carpets
Next to the Dome lies an ancient house that is the residence of one of Egypt's master weavers of handmade carpets. The factory of handmade carpets had a vast front and back yard, as well as a large hall where stacks of colourful, hand-woven carpets lined the high walls, which also featured photos of his mother, father, and grandfather.
Mohamed El Kattan represents the third generation of a business that kicked off in 1930. He recounted that his grandfather, Ahmed Fahmy El Kattan, studied in the United Kingdom. When he returned to Egypt, he was assigned a post at the Ministry of Education, through which he launched the idea of vocational education. "He would teach primary students, and they would graduate after learning to read, write and master a skill. However, in 1928, he resigned and created this place," he said.
After his grandparents passed away, his mother took over and ran the factory on her own in 1954. In 1972, he joined his parents in running the business. He still runs it to this day. "We made the carpets for the Hilton and Shepherd hotels in Cairo in the 1950s, as well as for the Cataract Aswan and Winter Palace in Luxor. We also exported to the US, England, and Switzerland," he concluded.
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