Cairo's hidden gems

Egypt Daily Star (Nigel J Hetherington)

A lot of us are aware of the magnificently preserved monuments of the pharaohs, the splendours of Islamic Cairo, and the beautiful Red Sea corals, but how many of us are aware that Egypt has one of the largest collections of Art Deco buildings in the world, right in the heart of Cairo?

If you take the time, you will discover that every epoch of history is represented somewhere in Egypt.

It is the rich 20th century architectural heritage of Downtown Cairo that I wish to introduce to you here. The phase Art Deco comes from a design fair named the “Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs industriels et Modernes” held in Paris in 1925 which, many years later, was to become synonymous with the modern movement. However, the term would eventually be used to describe all things modern of that era, including architecture, fashions, interior design and even automobiles.