Restoration project: The project in el-Moez Ledinullah el-Fatimi Street in Islamic Cairo involved overhauling 34 ancient buildings and transforming the street into an open museum for Islamic antiquities.

The Ministry of Culture is set to hold soon a special ceremony to celebrate the end of the restoration work in el-Moez Ledinullah el-Fatimi Street, which has been turned into an open museum for Islamic antiquities at a cost of about LE35 million. This major project has helped restore the magnificent architecture in this famous street in Islamic Cairo.Minister of Culture Farouq Hosni explained that the purpose of this project

, paid for by the State, is part of a bigger plan to develop Islamic Cairo and save 517 unique Islamic monuments battered by the earthquake that hit Cairo in October 1992. The project in el-Moez Ledinullah el-Fatimi Street involved overhauling 34 ancient buildings and transforming it into an open museum for Islamic antiquities. According to Minister Hosni, the Government had earmarked LE850 million for the entire project to restore Islamic Cairo, a task assigned to the Ministry of Culture, in cooperation with other ministries and authorities. “Because of el-Moez Ledinullah el-Fatimi Street's historical value, it has been given much attention. It is now an open museum for the pedestrians only, and all the workshops in the street, which clashed with its historic nature, have gone,” Hosni added.He said that lorries were banned from the street between 9am and 12am, while electronic gates had been installed in all the entrances to and exits from the street to control the traffic flow. “However, ambulances will be allowed to enter the street at any time.”Hosni added the LE12 million had been spent on establishing a textiles museum in the street. “The museum contains 250 pieces of textile and 15 carpets dating from Pharaonic times until the era of Mohamed Ali. It also includes images, paintings and writings that shed light on the manufacture of textiles, as well as various looms, with information on their use.” Mahmoud Saeed, a specialist in architectural preservation, says the most important buildings in the street are the school, hospital and shrine, named after Sultan Qalaoon, who is buried in the shrine, which is built in the same style at the Dome of the Rock and adorned with marble and mosaics. These three buildings date back to the Bahari Mamluk era. They suffered from an earthquake in the era of el-Nasser Mohamed Ibn Qalaoon, who overhauled them. Cairo had eight gates, of which only three remain: Zweila, el-Fotouh and Nasr. El-Moez Street starts at el-Fotouh and ends at Zweila. The street's famous mosques - Mahmoud Moharam, Selhedar, Sultan Barquq, el-Nasser Mohamed, el-Ashraf Beibars, Al-Ghouri and el-Qarafi - have all been overhauled, as have the schools of Kamalia, Ashrafia and Salehia, as well as Beit el-Seheimi and Beshtak Palace.