The Other Side of Me

It was back in 1902 on the Good Land of our graceful Cairo - El Mahrousa - when our ancestors' treasures finally found a home to settle.  The idea of a museum for Pharaonic antiquities, however, was born earlier in 1835 in El Azbakeya  during the reign of Mohamed Ali Pasha. The contents were then moved to a storage room in the Citadel, and later to an old royal palace in Boulaq through the efforts of the Great French Egyptologist  Auguste Mariette.  After moving to another palace in Giza, it finally settled in Khedivate Egypt, when Khedive Abbas Helmi II ordered to build a museum for the Ancient Egyptian antiquities in Tahrir Square, which was then known as El Ismaeeilia Square (after Khedive Ismaeel, the father of the Khedivate Cairo architecture). The current building, which Egyptians used to call the Antique Khana (the antiquities' chamber),  was given its "neoclassical" style by  French Architect Marcel Dourgnon. It was built over...

Standing tall since 1912, Imbaba Bridge is one of the many underrated landmarks of Cairo. Designed in a time so different from today, this bridge has seen good and bad times more than any of us saw. For more than a century this age-defying bridge has carried trains, cars, pedestrians, and carts passing over the Nile between Cairo and Giza. The metal railway bridge that was given a royal design was constructed by the Belgian Baume & Marpent. It mainly carries trains heading south to Upper Egypt, taking many residents back to their hometowns. But it also has lanes for cars and pedestrians. Having a unique artistic style, Imbaba Bridge became one of the most popular cinema and photography locations. Different films, music videos, commercials and posters were shot there since early 1960s. So too in reality, the Bridge was witness to cinematic events. During the 1919 Revolution trains were blocked from passing over the Bridge by " Anaber " ...