Cairo governor orders restoring order to historic street

Cairo Governor Galal Mostafa el Saeed ordered restoring order at historic Cairo's Mohamed Ali Street, now fraught with street vendors, microbuses and shop encroachments on its sideways.

The governor gave the instructions to the head of Al Mousky neighborhood to restore the historic street, named after the founder of modern Egypt, from Attaba Square to Bab Al Khalq Square.

The street as built in the 1860s as part of a new downtown that was to modernize Cairo. Inspired by French architect Baron Haussmann, the designer of Paris' grand boulevards, Egypt's then-ruler Khedive Ismail sought to "make Egypt a piece of Europe." The result was downtown of avenues and city squares lined with arches and European architecture, between the Nile and the old medieval city of Cairo, with its Islamic architecture and maze of narrow alleys.

Mohamed Ali Street was the connector between old and new Cairo, modeled after Paris' famous Rivoli Street. Over the next century, it became entertainment central, home to the musicians, dancers and workers of Cairo's cabaret nightlife.

Sources: MENA