Source: Gallica, Bibliothèque nationale de France, RESERVE PET FOL-VZ-1248, detail.
This image shows an example of the most important interventions in Cairo during the time of Khedive Ismail: creating new streets in old neighborhoods. The BnF describes this image as “The Making of Clot Bey street.” Note the brutally big stones in the detail of this picture above. They do not appear to have an origin locally (all other houses are made of much smaller stones and wood), and in fact, the street itself does not appear to be artificially cut. Is it possible that Clot Bey street was not completely an invention but rather some type of widening of an already existing alley? It appears that our first photograph was taken from the “bridge” (Faggaleh) side of the street. Look at this following image which clearly was captured at the other end of the street, from Azbakiyya:
Source: Gallica, Bibliothèque nationale de France, RESERVE PET FOL-VZ-1248
Although most histories talk about a sudden urbanism in 1869-1870, urban change was a much longer process and “khedivial Cairo” was constantly in the making. About the time when this photograph was made, the Governorate of Cairo prepared a large sale of properties in various neighborhoods. On 11 June 1872, the government bulletin published an advertisement that the Governorate wishes to sell twenty-two mīrī (government) properties. For instance, the “maḥall of the hospital, known as the maḥall of the old ḍabṭiyya, and next to it a plot of land” in Azbakiyya, workshops of smiths and carpenters at Muḥammad ʿAlī square, and two plots of land “at the beginning of Clot street, at the side of al-kūbrī [the bridge to the railway station], the first of them is 168 meters and the second is 2135 meters.” The outline of the Clot street was later modified in 1885, 1902, and 1911.
Source: Gallica, Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Cartes et plans, GE C-10010
Bibliography:
See previous posts for specialized secondary literature
Al-Waqāʾiʿ al-Miṣriyya, 11 June 1872, p. 4
(A.M.)
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