The Egyptians call it the awamat — houseboats — and became popular in Cairo at the time of the Ottoman Empire and the Mehmet Ali dynasty in the early 19th century.
Now, the houseboats built on the banks of the Nile are in danger of disappearing completely. Residents claim that the authorities have been pressing for several years to find another place to live. The latest warning came on June 21, when police gave residents a week or two to leave their homes. Last Thursday, about twenty people were “snatched” from the place.
The government has carried out several urban transformation plans in the Egyptian capital and the demolition of the houseboats, which are part of the city’s heritage, are also part of these plans: “They don’t like anything that is different, that doesn’t be fully understood, and that cannot be controlled and in a box”, laments the Egyptian writer Ahdaf Soueif.
Soueif wanted to return to his country to enjoy the last years of his life in a place overlooking the Nile River. In 2013 he had the opportunity to buy one of the iconic houses that rest on the waters of the famous river: “I have lived in different parts of the world and I have done many houses, but this is the only one that, when I arrived, i thought i would never change“, says the author to the Spanish newspaper El País.
“They may not be an aspect of Cairo’s urban relevance, but they are super important for the city’s memory,” says architect and urban planner Ahmed Zaazaa.
The residents of the houses do not want to give up. made a request online which, in less than a week, reached a total of 5 thousand signatures. For many, these houses and their gardens occupy a special place in the collective imagination of Cairo for having been the setting for numerous black and white films. The place was also home to the Nobel Prize for Literature.adrift on the nilenovel by Naguib Mahfouz.
The Second World War also passed through the houses. During Operation CondorNazi spies rented one of the houses to use as a headquarters to gather information on the movements of the British troops, who occupied most of the houses.
Although there are doubts about how the government will use the land that will become vacant, architect Zaazaa thinks that the houseboats will be transformed into sidewalks with cafes and restaurants.
“[As autoridades] They do not care about heritage, they believe that they will build the heritage of the future, and that it will be talked about in 100 years, which represents a disaster for the city, its memory and its value”, laments the architect.
The Soueif, is “the idea of destruction” that “moves” it: “I didn’t care so much if I had to leave my house and it became a fancy restaurant,” admits the writer.
Source: Observadora
