More re objections to Cairo Financial Centre

Gulf Daily News

A couple of days ago I posted about complaints from Zahi Hawass which caused a halt in ongoing construction work of the Cairo Financial and Touris Centre, a new complex which is located near the important heritage site the Cairo Citadel. Hawass wanted UNESCO to consider the impacts of the construction work and the final building on the Citadel. Here are two short follow-ups:

The UN has objected to plans to build a hotel and offices overlooking Cairo's historic citadel, and recommends the planners scale back by five or six floors, the Egyptian government said yesterday.Unesco said in a report that the high buildings would damage the appearance of the citadel, the mediaeval fortress which for centuries was the seat of the government in Egypt.

"These (the upper floors) would constitute a major infringement on the visual integrity of the citadel," Unesco said.

The citadel, which is associated with the 12th-century warrior sultan Salaheddin or Saladin, is part of the mediaeval city of Cairo, which became a World Heritage Site in 1979.

See the above for more, with a photograph of the Citadel itself. It would have been interesting to see it in the context of the construction work, but the building site is not shown.

The Egyptian Gazette adds more information (shown here in full because the story will expire shortly):

The UNESCO has suggested that a controversial business centre planned nera the Cairo Citadel be modified so as not to eclipse the fortress, writes Hassan Saadallah.

The organisation added in a report, handed to the Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouq Hosni, that the Financial and Administration Complex should not rise over 30.55 metres and that five top floors in an hotel annexed to the centre should not be built."

The report sent by the UNESCO Commission, also demanded the removal of six top floors from the office building southeast of the project because they block the viewing of the Citadel," said Zahi Hawass, the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities (SCA). Hawass said he had referred the UNESCO report to the Cairo Governor Abdel Azzim Wazir and Mohamed Nusseir, the chairman of the owner company of the project.

The UNESCO will send a team next month to check the new dummy of the project and ensure that the organisation's recommendations have been complied with.The Citadel, overlooking the Salah Salem Street, is considered the highest point in the Egyptian capital. Its Mohamed Ali Mosque dominates Cairo's skyline.