Islamic monuments in Egypt's Muizz Street are threatened

Youm7 (Dina Abdel Alem Mohammad Awad)

After being the biggest open-air museum in the world since it was restored three years ago, Muizz Street in old Cairo turned into public car park due to the absence of security.

Thus the Islamic monuments are threatened day after day by overcrowding, and the halls of mosques have turned into unlicensed open-air Cafeterias.

"I saw a piece of stone break off Sultan Barqouq Mosque after a truck scraped its wall. The traffic movement negatively affects the archeological sites," Said the owner of a shop in the Islamic street.

“Humidity could cause stones to fall from the mosque facade or shaking due to the traffic movement could cause damage,” said Mustafa Amin, head of Islamic Archeology in the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Amin added that some damage could be repaired. He continued there would not be a threat on the mosque itself as its substructure and sewer pipeline, fixed during previous restoration, were maintained but said car exhaust could damage the mosque’s facades.