The historic development of Cairo and its growing, shifting, and transforming urban fabric will be the focus of a lecture by Swiss architect/urban designer Dr. Stefano Bianca at 2:00 p.m. on April 23 in the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is free with Museum admission.
This special lecture is made possible by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, and His Highness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismaili Council for the Northeastern United States.
The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) was established in 1988 for the improvement of cultural life, particularly the built environment, which is the most substantial expression of cultural development in societies where Muslims have a significant presence. The AKTC encompasses three major programs: The Aga Khan Award for Architecture, The Historic Cities Support Program (HCSP), and The Education and Culture Program (ECP).
Rehabilitating Historic Cairo as a Living City
Dr. Bianca's lecture will provide an outline of the historic development and evolution of Cairo. In spite of Cairo becoming a metropolis of 15 to 18 million people, it remains the most important treasure-house of Islamic architecture. Yet its historic nucleus has been in decline.
Over the past decades, several initiatives have been taken to save historic Cairo as a complete urban entity, but the size and complexity of the task have defied comprehensive master plan attempts, well-intentioned as they may have been.
In 1995, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, through its Historic Cities Support Program (HCSP), started a new incremental rehabilitation initiative in Cairo, tackling the problem through a bottom-up approach and a focus on the western edge of the historic city. The lecture will describe how a vast no-man's land in the heart of the historic agglomeration (which had been used for centuries as a dump) was eventually transformed into a major urban park. This high-profile project has transformed the area into one of the most attractive public open spaces of Cairo, with a 360-degree view of all of the important landmarks of the historic city and the nearby "City of the Dead."
Beyond serving all citizens of Cairo as a unique "green lung" in a significant location, the expanding park project has helped ignite a major urban rehabilitation effort in the adjacent Darb al-Ahmar district that now includes the restoration of the 12th-century city wall and other historic sites, as well as the improvement of the adjacent housing districts. Residents also benefit from new community-based social services, as well as micro-credits, job placement, and skills enhancement projects.
A formerly marginal and decaying zone of the historic city is thus being turned into a thriving district, and the successful example of Darb al-Ahmar may pave the way for similar initiatives in other parts of Cairo and elsewhere in the Islamic world.
Dr. Stefano Bianca
Swiss architect and urban designer Stefano Bianca has spent much of his professional life in the Muslim world. In 1992, he was appointed the first Director of the "Historic Cities Support Program" of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Geneva. Over the past several years, he has built up the program's portfolio, which now features projects in northern Pakistan, Zanzibar, Samarkand, Cairo, Mostar, Aleppo, Kabul, Herat, Delhi, and Mopti in Mali. Current activities include conservation of historic buildings, contextual urban rehabilitation, landscaping and improvement of public open spaces, community-based socio-economic development and local institution-building.
His most recent books are Hofhaus und Paradiesgarten (Munich, 1991 and 2001), Urban Form in the Arab World (Zurich/London/New York, 2000), Karakoram – Hidden Treasures in the Northern Areas of Pakistan (Turin, 2005), and Rehabilitating Historic Cities in the Islamic World (forthcoming).
Admission and General Information
The lecture is open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis, and it is free with Museum admission. Recommended admission is: $15 for adults, $10 for seniors (65 and over) and students, and free for children under 12 accompanied by adults.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is located at Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street in Manhattan. For more information about the lecture, call 212-396-5460 or visit the Museum's website at www.metmuseum.org.
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March 24, 2006
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