Conservation Techniques of Architectural Heritage and Private Property Legal Rights–Case Study Alexandria, Egypt (original) (raw)
Related papers
Environmental Science and Sustainable Development, 2020
Conservation projects of architectural heritage primarily aim at preserving the cultural character and protecting the historical and value buildings through a set of techniques/approaches and concepts that deal with valuable urban heritage. These concepts and approaches are sometimes a major obstacle to community development. Thus, for a better understanding of the debate over conservation versus development in terms of ownership and private property legal rights, the study will review the classification of different techniques by applying them at the level of architecture, urban and society. Hence, these have been classified into three basic levels: building, urban and community, whereby policies for each type will be reviewed. These arguments will be discussed within the Alexandrian experience in architectural heritage listing and management. Moreover, the study also explores evaluation criteria of historical and value buildings, clarifying the attempts to conserve the architectural heritage in Alexandria. The study focuses mainly on the conflict between conservation techniques and concept of private property legal rights, and hence, proposing some future measure to address the conflict of interests between conservation on one hand and private property ownership legal rights on the other. In addition, it will present some recommendations for preserving the unique architectural style of the Mediterranean Sea that distinguishes the city of Alexandria. It will also adhere to the remains of this heritage by taking into consideration the legal rights of private property, which can contribute to the conservation techniques of architectural heritage for Alexandria.
WIT Transactions on The Built Environment,, 2011
Alexandria has been influenced by resident foreigners descended from various nationals who spread all over the city by the end of the nineteenth century. That gave Alexandria a unique pattern of architecture that included a blend of several classical European patterns, with their diversity and richness. These unique patterns have lasted until the first years of the twentieth century. Alexandria has been altered with the political, economical and social conversion during the second half of the 20th century. Alteration has occurred due to other causes as well. To mention, the migration of the foreign nationals from the city, while reversing rural migration toward the city, along with a high-density growing population. This led to seriously different and controversial cultural and intellectual points of view. The second half of the 20th century has witnessed a process of destruction to this distinctive architecture heritage. This happened for the reason of an overwhelming spread of concrete buildings and towers that lacked the aesthetic architectural sense. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the value and the potentials of this architectural heritage. Also, to underline the successive individual attempts that have been taken into practice for preserving this heritage in Alexandria. In addition, this paper will attempt to reach appropriate guidelines to guarantee that preservation processes will compromise only by reserving the rights of private properties within an unbiased attitude towards the owners of such heritage. This will occurs through searching into other countries’ previous experience and efforts in preservation processes for such valuable buildings.
Strategies of Conserving Heritage Buildings in Egypt
In Egypt, the definition of Heritage buildings varies than that issued by the UNESCO, as the Egyptian authorities perception to heritage buildings divide them into two categories, monumental and heritage buildings. Each category has its own law and different procedures of conservation. This research deals with two main approaches, the first is meant by the strategy of preserving heritage buildings and areas in Egypt, starting the registration criteria and conservation methods. While the second, deals with the impact of this strategy to the economic and social levels, and its capability to fulfill the real actual needs. The research then shall conduct an analytical criticism approach in studying the global trend of conserving heritage in terms of management methods, partnership, role of society and finance. This research will conclude adequate set of recommendations to the Egyptian socio-economic reality, derived from a comparative analytical study based on two main axes. The first is meant by the comparison between the Egyptian and global strategies of conservation, while the second, represents the role of the community's interaction in formulating these strategies.
Preservation Laws: Saving Modern Egyptian Architectural Integrity
Resourceedings , 2019
Egyptian cities have witnessed a variety of impeccable architecture throughout centuries of civilization, which enriched the Egyptian society. Constantly rising to the discussion is a question of what constitutes value to architecture of different times. It is important to regard heritage conservation as a synthetic, complex topic that is open for interpretations and judgment. While some antiquities are protected by law, it is apparent how modern heritage is a matter of ambiguity when it comes to preservation and conservation efforts. Until the mid-19th century, architectural heritage was primarily concerned with the preservation of monumental architecture. Theorists like John Ruskin and Le-Duc were largely exploring the authentic expression of materials in architecture, establishing the foundation, that Cesare Brandi would later build on, that conservation authenticity is not limited to age, rather includes material, style and structure.It is appropriate to regard heritage buildings as capital assets, with a potential to raise fluxes of services over time. However, not only Cairo, but Egypt has been losing much of its valuable modern heritage; thus its identity in the process.This paper focuses on Egypt's modernist architecture, discussing the rise of modernism and its introduction to the Egyptian cultural scene while reflecting on the current cultural detachment from such heritage and the current tendency towards. It, also, explores the rise of Egyptian modernism as a national style that reflects social and economic prosperity, in contrast to its rise in the west primarily advocating minimalism, functionalism and social equality.In comparing Egyptian laws to international charters on heritage preservation; in particular modern heritage, case studies are used to explore the consequences. The research concludes by suggesting measures and acts that can, directly and indirectly, affect the decision-making process, as well as support efforts of preservation of Egypt's modern heritage.
Resourceedings, 2018
In order to maintain the old historical image of the city, it is necessary to look back into the past and identify the iconic buildings that have been existing during the last decades. By recognizing those valuable structures, architects together with the help of decision makers should take actions to revitalize the uses of those valuable buildings in order to prevent building’s decay or destruction. Old historical Arabic public bathhouses (Hammam) were chosen as distinctive buildings that have been used frequently during the 19th century in Alexandria city. The main objective of this paper is to highlight the importance of applying the rehabilitation policies for the revitalization of those heritage buildings that have shaped for a long time the character of the old town in Alexandria. This paper will first discuss the beneficial use of the rehabilitation scheme that helps in safeguarding the social, cultural and economical value of the built heritage. The concept of rehabilitation mainly focuses that no historic building should be pulled down until serious effort has been made. Then, El Masry Arabic public bathhouse (hammam) located at Minet El Basal district in Alexandria old town has been selected as a case study on which the rehabilitation process has been applied through field surveying study and a literature background as well. Finally the study has proved that the rehabilitation process for the historical structures can lead to a great social contribution that help in preserving the original identity of the historical town.
IntechOpen eBooks, 2023
In Graeco-Roman Egypt, rulers shared the tradition of rebuilding structures. A great deal of attention was paid to conservation to preserve the characteristics associated with these buildings as perceived by the Egyptians. Conservation programming was implemented to achieve different political, economic, and cultural objectives. In this chapter, we examine the concept of conserving architectural heritage at that time by employing historical methods to study the historical environment of that era. We also use descriptive methods to study the conservation program applied by the rulers then. This is followed by an analytical study of the historical and archaeological specifics, and finally, a deductive method is used to indicate the outcomes and key findings. Moreover, the chapter outlines a theory for reviving the past through architectural heritage conservation in an analogous way to Graeco-Roman Egypt. Finally, the chapter ends with the main finding that reconstruction as a means of architectural conservation was a strategy perused in Graeco-Roman Egypt to serve political rather than cultural or religious goals. In addition, compared with contemporary reconstruction projects, the concepts are totally different. Architectural conservation today is primarily linked to cultural purposes and the desire to preserve the past rather than achieve political goals.
WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment
Listing heritage buildings in a certain country is the first step towards building conservation and sustainability. Thus, national governments, agencies, or organizations are responsible for deciding whether a building is of special value that should be listed. Different building conservation systems all over the world aim to preserve their heritage by identifying values based on the global principles agreed upon in all charters and treaties. Value concept passed through a long evolution of human thought including historical, artistic, social, political, educational, cultural, and many others. However, such various dimensions of values have become beyond the discussion and analysis of heritage conservation projects. This research seeks to identify and collect all values for selecting heritage buildings to facilitate their registration and management. Therefore, the study focuses on reviewing the existing criteria for listing heritage buildings in five countries: Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and the European Union. According to the results of the content analysis, by summing up all criteria needed for listing heritage buildings, a detailed analytical study for values and their indicators is conducted to improve and facilitate the listing management system in Egypt. Furthermore, the result shows the values and indicators that need to be added in the assessment criteria of Egyptian national law. This can raise the awareness and significance of various heritage buildings preventing their neglect and demolition.
Problems of Heritage in Alexandria
—Alexandria was the capital of Egypt during the Graeco-Roman period and the first port and commercial centre in Egypt since its building till present. It owns a wealth of tangible and intangible heritage that was formed throughout ages and by a variety of contributors. Yet, that rich heritage is not fully used and the tourism the city receives is not compared to what it deserves. This is due to many problems and challenges that face the use of heritage. The present paper aims to shed light on some of these problems and challenges such as documentation problems, lack of collaborative work between authorities, neglect of intangible heritage, lack of awareness, insufficient role or museums to promote heritage and lack of enforced legalizations. Identifying these problems and challenges is important to solve them.