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Paris on the Nile - Cairo on the SeineList of figures

Figure 1 Jean-Léon Gérôme, (1867), Napoleon Bon-aparte before the Sphinx [ONLINE]. Available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Jean-L%C3%A9on_G%C3%A9r%C3%B4me_003.jpg [Accessed 14 December 15].

Figure 2 François-Charles Cecile, (1809), Frontispice de la Description de l’Egypte, vol.I [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.histoire-image.org/pleincadre/img/p.gif [Ac-cessed 14 December 15].

Figure 3 Jacques-Louis David, (1812), Napoleon Bona-parte [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.worldstandards.eu/WordPress/wp-content/uploads/cars-Napoleon-Bona-parte.jpg [Accessed 14 December 15].

Figure 4 Unknown, Portrait of Isma’il Pasha (1830–1895), Khedive of Egypt. [ONLINE]. Available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Is-ma%27il_Pasha.jpg [Accessed 14 December 15].

Figure 5 The Illustrated London News, (1867), Egyptian temple, Paris [ONLINE]. Available at: http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/data/13030/2g/ft8x0nb62g/fig-ures/ft8x0nb62g_00074.jpg [Accessed 14 December 15].

Figure 6 L’Exposition universelle de 1867 illustrée, (1867), Interior of the Egyptian temple, Paris [ONLINE]. Available at: http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/data/13030/2g/ft8x0nb62g/figures/ft8x0nb62g_00075.jpg [Accessed 14 December 15].

Figure 7 DONALD MCLEISH, (1920-1929), Locals walk along a street in Cairo near the Aksunkor Mosque. [ON-LINE]. Available at: http://www.natgeocreative.com/comp/IR9/701/605805.jpg [Accessed 14 December 15].

Figure 8 Unknown, (n.d.), The Shepheard Hotel [ON-LINE]. Available at: http://www.shepheard-hotel.com/images/history/postcard-thb.jpg [Accessed 14 December 15].

Figure 9 Felix Bonfils , (1831-1885), Sieht aus wie der Konstantinsteg, ist es aber nicht: Die von Barillet entwor-fenen Ezbekieh-Gärten in Kairo. [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.pratercottage.at/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ezbekieh-cairo-barillet.jpg [Accessed 14 December 15].

Figure 10 Cynthia Myntti, (2000), Downtown Mu-hammad Shawarbi Pasha Building [ONLINE]. Avail-able at: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NraWHBx9u34/Um55nKrAbqI/AAAAAAAAAo4/WF7urIVyJ8M/s1600/Dome+of+the+Abd-al-Hamid+al-Shawarby+Pasha+build-ing.+Designed+by+the+architect+Habib+Ayrout+in+1925.jpg [Accessed 14 December 15].

Figure 11 Unknown, (n.d.), [ONLINE]. Available at: http://waaaat.welovead.com/upload/rss_down-load/20130611/600_0/201306110301316030.jpg [Ac-cessed 14 December 15].

Figure 12 Unknown, (n.d.), Grand Continental Hotel [ONLINE]. Available at: http://grandhotelsegypt.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Old_Continental-300x197.jpg [Accessed 14 December 15].

Figure 13 Unknown, (2004), Antinoüs by Jean-François-Théodore Gechter Fontaine du Fellah or Egyptian Fountain [ONLINE]. Available at: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Lps0ZXD6Y_8/TsN9--Gx_ZI/AAAAAAAAGKM/KCE-j1cHXjWU/s640/0407220071.jpg [Accessed 14 Decem-ber 15].

Figure 14 Unknown, (n.d.), The entrance porch decorat-ed with various Egyptian inspired elements. [ONLINE]. Available at: http://archaeology-travel.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/hotel_de_beauharnais-640x480.jpg [Accessed 14 December 15].

Figure 15 Vassil, (2008), Sphinx at base of the Fon-taine du Palmier [ONLINE]. Available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/Fon-taine_du_Palmier_Sphinx_240907_04.jpg/800px-Fon-taine_du_Palmier_Sphinx_240907_04.jpg [Accessed 14 December 15].

Figure 16 Theodor Hoffbauer, (1875-1882), The fountain in 1807 before the final demolition of the Grand Châtelet and before the addition of the base in 1858 [ONLINE]. Available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/com-mons/thumb/3/30/Place_du_Ch%C3%A2telet_en_1807.jpg/800px-Place_du_Ch%C3%A2telet_en_1807.jpg [Accessed 14 December 15].

Figure 17 Unknown, (n.d.), [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.optimome.com/sites/default/files/photos/mu-see-du-louvre.jpg [Accessed 14 December 15].

Figure 18 Nina, (2005), Kheops pyramid [ONLINE]. Available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e3/Kheops-Pyramid.jpg/1024px-Khe-ops-Pyramid.jpg [Accessed 14 December 15].

Figure 19 GIRAUD Patric, (2010), Vue générale [ON-LINE]. Available at: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe-dia/commons/thumb/5/56/Place_de_la_Concorde_Par-is_02.jpg/800px-Place_de_la_Concorde_Paris_02.jpg [Accessed 14 December 15].

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Paris on the Nile - Cairo on the Seine

“HE WHO HATH NOT SEEN CAIRO HATH NOT

SEEN THE WORLD.HER SOIL is GOLD ;

HER NILE is A MARVEL ;HER WOMEN ARE AS THE BRIGHT-EYED

HOURISof PARADISE ;

HER HOUSES ARE PALACES, AND HER AIR is SOFT,

WITH AN ODOUR ABOVE ALOES, RE-FRESHING THE

HEART ;AND HOW SHOULD CAIRO BE OTHER-

WISE, WHEN SHEis THE MOTHER OF THE WORLD ?”

~Stanely Lane-Poole

“YOU KNOW, I SOMETIMES THINK, HOW IS ANYONE EVER GONNA COME UP WITH A BOOK, OR A PAINTING, OR A SYMPHONY, OR A SCULPTURE THAT

CAN COMPETE WITH A GREAT CITY. YOU CAN’T. BECAUSE YOU LOOK

AROUND AND EVERY STREET, EVERY BOULEVARD, IS ITS OWN SPECIAL ART FORM AND WHEN YOU THINK

THAT IN THE COLD, VIOLENT, MEAN-INGLESS UNIVERSE THAT PARIS EX-ISTS, THESE LIGHTS. I MEAN COME ON, THERE’S NOTHING HAPPENING

ON JUPITER OR NEPTUNE, BUT FROM WAY OUT IN SPACE YOU CAN SEE

THESE LIGHTS, THE CAFÉS, PEOPLE DRINKING AND SINGING. FOR ALL WE KNOW, PARIS IS THE HOTTEST SPOT

IN THE UNIVERSE.”

~Owen Wilson as Gil in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris

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Paris on the Nile - Cairo on the SeineIntroduction

A history of a city is nothing but many cultural memories from her past that collectively forms her present. In this case it is not one city, but two; Cairo and Paris, two cities that had a strong exchange of cultures following the French expe-dition in Egypt which affected their urban envi-ronment. By looking at Cairo’s urban develop-ment and Paris’s use of ancientness this essay will draw on the work of historians such as Trevor Mostyn, Richard G. Carrott, Stanley Lane-Poole, Desmond Stewart and more to tell the story of how Cairo developed from medieval to Parisi-an belle époque, and how Paris found her new identity in the antiquity of ancient Egypt. In order to understand the whole picture, one has to go back in history where it all started.

The French Expedition

The French campaign came to Egypt in 1798, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, lasting for 3 years. During that time they were fought by the Otto-mans (Egyptians) as well as the British, which obviously did want Egypt for herself. The French occupation ended by Napoleon secretly going back to France, then the assassination of Gen-eral Kléber who was Napoleon’s successor, and the defeat of General Menou in the battle of Alex-andria by the British. Despite the blood that the French shed, their invasion had its advantages. They built a library which they filled with books that they brought with them, established wind-mills for grinding corn, built hospitals, designed boulevards and they found the Rosetta stone which led to later the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs by Jean-François Champollion in 1822.

“The French had given the Muslims a tool which slowly but with increasing momentum they would repair their stagnant society” (Stewart, 1969, p.180). The French wanted to document Egypt’s history, develop and enhance her future by colonising her, but unlike any conqueror be-fore, Napoleon brought with him to Egypt corps of “learned men”; scientists, artists, archaeolo-gists and historians who produced a series of books containing texts and paintings describing Egypt. Later this became the twenty-four volume encyclopaedia “Description de l’Égypte”. After the occupation ended, although it did not last for

Fig. 1 Napoleon on a horse before the Sphinx

Fig. 2 Front piece of Description de l’Égypte

Fig. 3 Napoleon Bonaparte Fig. 4 Khedive Ismail

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Paris on the Nile - Cairo on the Seinelong, Egypt was left with a part of the French cul-ture that people willingly accepted for the rea-son that it was not forced upon them religiously (Stewart, 1969, p.180).

Khedive Ismail (Egypt’s Medici)

Egypt was then ruled by the Albanian Mu-hammed Ali, who had a great vision for the country. He is most famous for his mosque on the top of the citadel and his two palaces, one in the citadel and the other in Shubra. Ali also was the one who gifted the Obelisks to England and France. After he died in 1849 a few members of his family ruled Egypt, leading to his half-neph-ew; Ismail Pasha, who ruled in 1863. Ismail, the man that Trevor Mostyn described as “the Medi-ci and founder of modern Egypt” (Mostyn, 2006, p.2), was born in Cairo then sent to Austria to live there for a medical condition and then moved to Paris for education. After that he came back to Egypt and upon his uncle’s death he was the heir to the throne. Having lived all his life in Europe, Ismail was more European than Egyptian, but he loved Egypt and he dreamed of making her a better country. (Stewart, 1969)

Modernising Cairo

In 1867 Ismail was invited by Napoleon III to attend the Exposition Universelle which was held by Baron Haussmann. The Egyptian pavilion at the Paris fair drew the attention of its visitors who were later on disappointed by the Khedive’s perfect French accent as they expected to see someone more eastern in his appearance. Is-mail during his trip met Jean-Pierre Barillet-De-schamps, the landscape architect who designed Champs de Mars and Bois de Boulgne and who Ismail will later hire. Ismail wanted for Cairo what Haussmann was doing for Paris, he wanted a more modern and civilised Cairo. At that time he had two years left until the opening of the Suez Canal when he will be inviting all the leaders and royalties of the world to see the new Egypt. Is-mail wanted to prove that Cairo is more Europe-an than African, so he assigned his former col-league in Paris Ali Mubarak Pasha the head of the “Public Works Ministry” to modernize Cairo in a European style (AlSayyad, 2011, p. 199-214).

Ali Mubarak was in a very difficult situation as the existing medieval Cairo had very narrow streets and had extremely dense and crowded neighbourhoods which made it almost impossi-ble to try and intervene. The only way was to focus the attention on the western parts of the city (on the banks of the Nile) and to try to build a Cairo which is rival for Haussmann’s model for Paris. But Cairo is not Paris, and she never was. Cairo has so much history that makes it al-most impossible to introduce a new architecture without it blending with the existing one. In Paris, Houssmann almost demolished medieval Paris with the exception of a few remarkable monu-ments, he put building codes, rules and regu-lations for elevation styles, heights, entrances, windows and materials. The modern Paris was meant to be uniformed, to create a certain life-style for the Parisians, to create a capitalist city.

Fig. 6 Interior of Egyptian Pavilion at Paris world

Fig. 5 Egyptian Pavillion at Paris world exhibition

Fig. 7 A srteet in old Islamic Cairo

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Paris on the Nile - Cairo on the Seine On the other hand Cairo was treated differently, Ismail just wanted to open the door for moderni-ty, to open the Egyptian minds to the European ideas which he was raised on. Paris was trans-formed, while Cairo was…well, let’s just say she was re-enhanced. Ismail introduced a new life style with the new architecture, a lifestyle that created an elite class that lived in the European Cairo, and that is how Cairo became two cities. The Egyptian Cairo where the simple and the poor lived and right next to them was the Euro-pean Cairo that had the big palaces with views on the Nile, night parties, and beautiful gardens.

Ezbekiyya Gardens

Ismail hired the former chief gardener of the city of Paris, Jean-Pierre Barillet-Deschamp, to design many gardens and parks in Egypt but the most important were the Ezbekiyya gardens. Barillet-Deschamp turned Ezbekiyya into a Pa-risian garden where it was planted with beauti-ful exotic trees that Ismail imported from India, Australia, Cuba, Madagascar and Brazil. The twenty acres garden was lit by 2,500 jets of gas tulip-shaped glasses that Ismail installed at the same time that Paris acquired it. Barillet-Des-champ build stone houses and arcades that pro-vided shade for people to sit sat down for coffee by day and for wine and live performances by night. Ezbekiyya became as Mostyn comment-ed “one of the finest gardens outside Europe” (Mostyn, 2006, p.70), it became a central park in Cairo from which came out many wide streets, boulevards and public buildings such as the Op-era.

Eclectic Cairo

The European Cairo witnessed many new architectural styles in a short period of time by French, Italian, German and Egyptian architects, which lead to a very eclectic architectural atmos-phere between; neo-classical, baroque, rococo, renaissance and of course Egyptian motifs and figures, thus starting a belle époque era that lasted for almost a century. A great example of such eclectic architecture can be seen in the 1925 Muhammad Shawarbi Pasha building that was designed by Lebanese-Egyptian architect Habib Ayrout who was educated in Paris, the building has a dome which at first glance looks like a Parisian dome, but around the dome are 4 head-statues of ancient Egyptian figures deco-rated in an art deco style.

Fig. 8 The Shepheard Hotel, Khedival Cairo

Fig. 9 Ezbekiyya garden, Khedival Cairo

Fig. 10 Muhammad Shawarbi Pasha building

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Paris on the Nile - Cairo on the Seine With the new architecture Cairo opened up to the western world and became a glamorous sun-ny place where many Europeans and Americans chose to live. Her economy attracted merchants, speculators, artisans, adventurers and writers. Myntti says“It was a time when the corner grocer was Greek, the mechanic Italian, the confection-er Austrian, the pharmacist English, the hotelier Swiss, and the department store owner Jewish” (Myntti, 2015, p.6). She became the Mother of the World in a new life that left many cultural memories which collectively formed today’s Cai-ro.

Glorious Paris

Meanwhile in Paris the opposite was happen-ing. Paris was developing, it was the most mod-ern city in the world and a role model for most capitals around the world, but yet ironically she was looking back on history, on Egypt. In order to understand this one have to go back again to the time of the French expedition. France was more affected by the expedition than Egypt ever was, Napoleon saw a history of an empire, an empire that he had always dreamt of. Description de L’Égypte was France’s memory of Egypt’s his-tory, and they looked upon it as the key to great-ness. Therefore France was left with an impact of a wide spread interest in the culture, architecture and artistic style of the ancient Egyptian ‘empire’ which is known as Egyptomania. It was basically the obsession in the use of ancient Egyptian mo-tifs and decorative forms, as well as architecture styles and this later on turned to be the world wide Egyptian revival and Art Deco movements. The irony is that Paris in time became more Egyp-tian than Cairo ever was, figuratively speaking of course, she achieved ancientness and antiquity which became a strong integral part of her cultur-al memory (WREN, 2009, p.27-30).

Egyptomania

Starting from the 19th century these Egypto-mania references started to appear in Paris; the 1808 Rue de Sevres fountain that was in the shape of an Egyptian gate with battered walls, cornices and blocked by a wall which in front of stands a statue of a roman figure in Egyptian costume (Carrott, 1978, p.12). The entrance of Hôtel de Beauharnais that was decorated in 1806 with Egyptian lotus columns and a pylon shaped gate (Carrott, 1978, p.28). The Sphinxes around Fontaine du Palmier were only added 52

years later around the base of the fountain in 1858 by Baron Haussmann. And last but not least, the Luxor Obelisk that Muhammed Ali gift-ed Paris waserected in Palce de la Concorde October 26th 1833 and until this day it still stand there raising many questions about why is it there, and what does it really symbolise.

Fig. 11 Downtown Khedival Cairo

Fig. 12 Grand Continental Hotel over looking Ezbekiyya

Fig. 13 Rue de Sevres fountain, Paris

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Paris on the Nile - Cairo on the SeineThe Obelisk

Obelisks in the ancient Egyptian kingdom were usually dedicated for sun deities, or commem-orate pharaohs and sometimes even to identify sanctuary places. But after the fall of the Egyp-tian Pharaohs and the Ptolemaic dynasty the Romans took back with them many obelisks to Rome to erect them in places like Campus Martius and the Circus Maximus. (Virnig, 2011, pp.91–93). In Rome the obelisks served differ-ently, it was more of a symbol for triumph that until today remind us of what the Roman Empire once was. Naturally Napoleon, with his imperial legacy, wanted to erect an obelisk in Paris during the expedition. He wanted to indicate his power over Egypt at the time and to generate a link with ancient Rome and its supremacy over the Med-iterranean and determination to control Egypt. When the obelisk was erected 14 years after Napoleon’s death it was not to honour him, nor any other political figure or party in that specific manner, but it was to honour and commemorate the French people. (WREN, 2009, p.46-49)

The Place de la Concorde was the chosen place for the obelisk for that over the years the French society had witnessed many huge changes in leadership, each laying claim over this spot. Cur-ran comments on this matter in his book Obelisk: A History by saying “no spot in Paris had a great-er ability to serve as a symbolic lightening rod”. (Curran, 2009, p. 251). But it only was when the obelisk was erected, that the Place de la Con-corde finally belonged to the French people. Curran argues that King Louis-Philippe I wanted a monument that would “symbolise, effectively, nothing” (Curran, 2009, p. 251). But the obe-lisk stood there symbolising and celebrating the greatness of the country, the expedition that end-ed with the decipherment of the Rosetta stone, thus opening the door of knowledge on the past that made Paris more than two centuries later be is still Egyptomaniac, where the latest addi-tion was in 1989 when I. M. Pei’s glass pyramid was built in the heart of the musée du Louvre giv-ing Paris a reference to one of the classic world wonders; the great Pyramid of Giza. The ancient Egyptian art and architecture in Paris collective-ly created a cultural memory that became part of the Parisian identity, and if we were to take it from her she would lose her soul.

Fig. 14 Hôtel de Beauharnais, Paris

Fig. 15 Sphinx at base of Fontaine du Palmier, Paris

Fig. 16 Fontaine du Palmier before adding the Sphinx, Paris

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Paris on the Nile - Cairo on the SeineConclusion “Paris on the Nile-Cairo on the Seine” is a term that should not be taken literally, but fig-uratively. Along the years starting with the French expedition a cultural link between the two cities started to form their future and their memories. Memories that collectively formed their cultures. In Cairo the influence of the city of Paris encouraged the city to develop in her own way architecturally and socially. While in Paris the Description de l’Égypte created an artistic movement; Egyptomania, in the use of architectural features in Paris such as Rue de Sevres fountain, entrance of Hôtel de Beauhar-nais, the Sphinxes around Fontaine du Palmi-er and of course the Luxor obelisk erected at Place de la Concorde, which commemorated France’s recent history and created a new identity for the nation. In our day, and more than two centuries later, would the modern Cai-ro and Paris have been the same without the French expedition and Khedive Ismail? Would it have been the same way; Paris on the Nile and Cairo on the Seine?

Fig. 17 Musée du Louvre, Paris

Fig. 18 The Great Pyramid, Giza

Fig. 19 Palace de la Concorde

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