Take advantage of the search to browse through the World Heritage Centre information.

i
ii
iii
iv
v
vi
vii
viii
ix
x

Historic Cairo

Egypt
Factors affecting the property in 2012*
  • Housing
  • Management systems/ management plan
  • Water (rain/water table)
  • Other Threats:

    Dilapidated infrastructure; Neglect and lack of maintenance

Factors* affecting the property identified in previous reports
  • Earthquake in 1992 (issue resolved);
  • Inappropriate reconstruction works (issue resolved);  
  • Rise of the underground water level;
  • Dilapidated infrastructure;
  • Neglect and lack of maintenance;
  • Overcrowded areas and buildings;
  • Uncontrolled development;
  • Absence of a comprehensive Urban Conservation Plan;
  • Absence of an integrated socio-economic revitalization plan linking the urban and the socio-cultural fabric of the city core.
UNESCO Extra-Budgetary Funds until 2012

Total amount provided to the property: Special Account for the safeguarding of the cultural heritage of Egypt: USD 2,203,304 dollars for the project Urban Regeneration of Historic Cairo (URHC).

For details, see page https://whc.unesco.org/en/activities/663/

International Assistance: requests for the property until 2012
Requests approved: 10 (from 1979-1999)
Total amount approved : 398,900 USD
Missions to the property until 2012**

August 2002, March 2005: ICOMOS reactive monitoring missions; April and December 2007: World Heritage Centre missions for the Cairo Financial Centre; October 2008: World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS reactive monitoring mission; 2009-2012: several World Heritage Centre missions for the URHC project.

Conservation issues presented to the World Heritage Committee in 2012

At the time of drafting the present document, the State Party had not submitted a report on the state of conservation of the property. Since the political events of January 2011, the situation in Egypt has witnessed many changes at the institutional level, in particular concerning the Ministry of Culture and the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

Nevertheless, in the framework of the "Urban Regeneration project for Historic Cairo" (URHC), managed by the World Heritage Centre, protocols of cooperation with the different stakeholders involved in the management of the property are being established as a first step towards the definition of the required future institutional set-up and management system. A deep analysis to clarify the boundaries of the property and the revision of the draft retrospective Statement of Outstanding Universal Value have been carried out by the project team in cooperation with the Egyptian counterparts, but their official submission will be possible only after the presidential elections in June 2012 and the stabilization of the institutional framework.

Meanwhile, the URHC team has completed a quick survey of the whole central area of Historic Cairo. This comprehensive and systematic assessment of the heritage values in the different parts of the urban fabric has provided the basic information to outline a more accurate conservation zoning, with sub-zones of different degrees of protection according to their heritage values. It also offers a unique documentation of the state of the property in 2011 through an extensive photographic campaign. Sector studies on socio-economic evolution of Historic Cairo, housing issues, community activities, and environmental risks have been launched. A proposal for the communication strategy of an awareness campaign addressed to the residents and the tourists is being prepared.

On the other hand, the World Heritage Centre has been repeatedly alerted on the state of conservation of the property after the events of January 2011. During the survey visits, the URHC team observed scattered interventions of demolition and reconstruction, constructions on vacant plots of out of scale buildings with inconsistent materials, and vertical elevations of existing buildings up to seven or eight storeys. The second alarming information was provided by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture’s (AKTC) staff in Darb al-Ahmar who witnessed a major campaign in land grabbing and illegal construction. They estimate that since March 2011 hundreds building sites are under construction in the historic city. A letter sent by UNESCO to the Secretary General of the SCA in September 2011 on this subject remains unanswered. 

This widespread and harmful process of renovation stems from both a lack of control and the consequent spreading of illegal interventions, and also the totally inadequate regulations and procedures. The demolition decrees concerning hundreds of buildings and the new alignments imposed for their reconstruction, with a setback from the previous street front, seriously threaten the fabric and the street pattern of the old city of Cairo in a non-reversible manner.

Finally, the building site of the Cairo Financial Centre has been in a state of abandonment for more than two years, and there is no information on resuming the works. 

Analysis and Conclusion by World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies in 2012

The World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies take note of the information on the URCH project and on the state of conservation of the property. They recommend the Committee to request the State Party to take decisive and necessary action to stop the illegal activities which seriously threaten the fabric of Historic Cairo in a non-reversible manner. They also recommend that the World Heritage Committee urge the State Party to put in place protection measures and enforce them in order to preserve the Outstanding Universal Value for which Historic Cairo was recognized as a World Heritage site. 

Decisions adopted by the Committee in 2012
36 COM 7B.51
Historic Cairo (Egypt) (C 89)

The World Heritage Committee,

1.   Having examined Document WHC-12/36.COM/7B.Add,

2.   Recalling Decision 35 COM 7B.48, adopted at its 35th session (UNESCO, 2011),

3.   Regrets that the State Party did not provide a state of conservation report as requested;

4.   Acknowledges the information provided by the team of the Urban Regeneration project for Historic Cairo (URHC) on the progress made in the implementation of the project;

5.   Expresses its deep concern about the state of conservation of the property;

6.   Urges the State Party to put in place urgent protection measures and to enforce them;

7.   Encourages the State Party to continue its cooperation within the URHC project to define and apply an effective management system;

8.   Requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre the revised draft of the retrospective Statement of Outstanding Universal Value and the boundaries’ clarifications for the property;

9.   Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2013, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 37th session in 2013. 

Draft Decision: 36 COM 7B.51

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC-12/36.COM/7B.Add,

2. Recalling Decision 35 COM 7B.48, adopted at its 35th session (UNESCO, 2011),

3. Regrets that the State Party did not provide a state of conservation report as requested;

4. Acknowledges the information provided by the team of the Urban Regeneration project for Historic Cairo (URHC)on the progress made in the implementation of the project;

5. Expresses its deep concern about the state of conservation of the property;

6. Urges the State Party to put in place urgent protection measures and to enforce them;

7. Encourages the State Party to continue its cooperation within the URHC project to define and apply an effective management system;

8. Requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre the revised draft of the retrospective Statement of Outstanding Universal Value and the boundaries’ clarifications for the property;

9. Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2013, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 37th session in 2013. 

Report year: 2012
Egypt
Date of Inscription: 1979
Category: Cultural
Criteria: (i)(v)(vi)
Documents examined by the Committee
arrow_circle_right 36COM (2012)
Exports

* : The threats indicated are listed in alphabetical order; their order does not constitute a classification according to the importance of their impact on the property.
Furthermore, they are presented irrespective of the type of threat faced by the property, i.e. with specific and proven imminent danger (“ascertained danger”) or with threats which could have deleterious effects on the property’s Outstanding Universal Value (“potential danger”).

** : All mission reports are not always available electronically.


top