Talaat Harb Street

Talaat Harb Street

Talaat Harb Street cuts through downtown Cairo, connecting Tahrir Square and Talaat Harb Square. The street received its current name in 1954 during a sweeping effort by Egypt’s new president, Gamal Abd Nasser, to rid the city of all reminders of the Muhammad Ali dynasty and British occupation. Previously the namesake of Soliman Pasha, Egypt's famous French-born General under Muhammad Ali, the street was renamed after the leading Egyptian economist of the early 1900s, Talaat Harb.

Statue of Talaat Harb.

Architecture

It is the architecture displayed on Talaat Harb that reminds its visitor of its eventful past. Until its name change in 1954, this avenue was known to all as Soliman Pasha Street and was a center for activity and social interaction among Cairo's upper and European class. Although but a ghost of its forgotten glory, the midan (square) is lined with the strong elegance of French architecture from the Soliman Pasha era, which were once inhabited by some of Cairo's most popular and successful shops. Groppi, the once world famous chocolatier, still holds it's place in the midan but has lost its global prominence. In the late 1920s Groppi opened a shop in Soliman Pasha square and continued conducting business with Egypt's elite. Established in the early 19o0s, Groppi was once "the most celebrated tearoom this side of the Mediterranean" and was repeatedly the shop of choice for gifts among royalty, including princess Margaret and Elizabeth of England. Miraculously, Groppi narrowly escaped the destruction of Black Saturday and the burning of Cairo in January 1952, although much of this downtown area did not. Perhaps of greater destruction to the Groppi enterprise was its interaction with President Nasser, as he ordered a bomb be placed inside the downtown shop in an effort to promote public insecurity and gain his legitimacy. During the following years Groppi lost its original flavor as innovative and expert business practices gave way to the socialism of Nasser's Egypt. While Groppi still exists today and continues to sell superior chocolates it is, sadly, but a shell of its past splendor.

Despite Nasser’s attempt to mask Egypt’s history, the structural design of the buildings on Talaat Harb is an obvious reminder of a colonial past. Various types of architecture representing different eras of Egyptian history are displayed above the roughly reconstructed, yet inviting storefronts on street level. Most of these buildings appear to be left over from the days of Khedive Ismail and his agenda to create a new European quarter in Cairo during the second half of the 19th century. It was he who stressed urban planning for the first time in Cairo, to include broad, linear gridded streets, geometric harmony and modern European architectural style. Yet the once grand appearance of these buildings has been lost to the clinging dust, battered shutters and general lack of outward upkeep. Interspersed between these sad structures are their modern counterparts, which appear significantly more aged than the actual date of the structure would suggest due to their hasty and incomplete construction. Identical glossy storefronts strung together along the street level provide a degree of continuity and collectively sacrifice the history disappearing above them for an eager pursuit of western culture and commerce.

Events

Among this conglomeration of neglected elegance and makeshift renovation stands the glimmering white grandeur of the Egyptian Diplomatic Club at the corner of Talaat Harb and Abdel Salam Araf Street. This club claims to be the center of the diplomatic community in Cairo as it holds meetings and events and publishes a monthly political magazine, The Egyptian Foreign Ministry. This publication promotes the club’s mission; to showcase Egypt’s civilized structure and economic strength and stress its prominent position in the Arab world as an ambassador to the outside world. Such an effort is well suited in its position on Talaat Harb as the street exudes the attitude written on the pages of this magazine: pursuit of economic innovation coupled with a rich mix of cultural influences from the western and eastern world.

The Egyptian Diplomatic Club.

Another now-forgotten inhabitant of the midan was Cafe Riche, a Greek owned establishment founded in 1921. Cafe Riche became a popular venue for many rising performers, among them Um Kalthoun and was a frequented hang out for some of Cairo's more privileged men. However, in December 1919 it became host to an assassination attempt on Egypt's last Coptic Prime Minister, Youssef Wahba Pasha. The hopeful assassin waited for his target inside Cafe Riche, but alas, his attempt failed.

This mile long stretch has not only erected history in walls of concrete, but witnessed its movements develop between its roughly defined curbs. At the center of the city, Talaat Harb has been host to countless demonstrations in the nation’s turbulent political past. During one example, in 2005, protesters to President Mubarak’s announcement that he would be running for a fifth term of office gathered in Tahrir Square and spilled onto Talaat Harb and into Talaat Harb Square. The demonstration ended in the arrest of 40 persons by plain clothes security officers. This demonstration was led by the opposition group Kafeya (“enough” in Arabic).

Talaat Harb square at night.

Today

Today the street resembles a healthy vien, pumping full of life toward the heart of the city, Tahrir Square. There is an urgency in the street played out by honking rusted out taxis displaying an unlikely but purposeful array of bumper stickers, which is counterbalanced by the slow swagger of women in gullabayas, girls stalling in front of shop windows stuffed with contorted mannequins displaying the latest fashions and men smoking shisha over a glass of tea while lazily manning a rack of ties. Within this precariously dynamic market exist a few establishments which seem to have secured a permanent membership and provide the street with a degree of stability. Ironically, or perhaps not, these companies include, among other similar pursuits, Misr Travel, Egypt Air, and Banque Misr; all of which are companies established by Talaat Harb during his campaign to bolster the Egyptian economy in the 1920s and 1930s. It seems appropriate for these companies to still provide the economic foundation on Talaat Harb, acting as a living testament to their founder-- as if a ghost of Talaat Harb himself still embodies a few buildings on his namesake street.

Whether or not the splendor that perhaps once characterized the street still exists, Talaat Harb is an honest reflection of the current reality of Egypt: a confused mesh of American pop culture and Arab tradition being enthusiastically consumed by members of a decidedly Islamic society trying their best to snatch a strand of economic strength from the modern, developed world by inadvertently ignoring their own rich cultural heritage. And all this in front of the backdrop of their Ottoman and colonial past.

External links

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