Cairo Tower

Cairo Tower
Cairo Tower
Arabic: برج القاهرة; Borg El-Qahira
	Cairo tower in 2008
General information
Type	Communications, observation, restaurants, visitor attraction
Architectural style	Ancient Egypt
Location	Cairo, Egypt
Coordinates	30°02′45″N 31°13′28″E / 30.04583°N 31.22444°E
Construction started	1956
Completed	1961
Opening	1961
Cost	$6m
Owner	Government of Egypt
Height
Antenna spire	187 metres (614 feet)
Roof	159 m (521.7 ft)
Top floor	142.6 m (467.8 ft)
Technical details
Lifts/elevators	3
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Naoum Shebib
Website
	cairotower.net; (requires Adobe Flash; in English)

The Cairo Tower (Egyptian Arabic: برج القاهرة, Borg El-Qāhira) is a free-standing concrete tower in Cairo, Egypt. At 187 m (614 ft), it has been the tallest structure in Egypt and North Africa for about 50 years. It was the tallest structure in Africa for ten years until 1971, when it was surpassed by Hillbrow Tower in South Africa.

One of Cairo's well-known modern monuments, sometimes considered Egypt's second most famous landmark after the Pyramids of Giza, it stands in the Gezira district on Gezira Island in the River Nile, close to downtown Cairo.

History

Built from 1954 to 1961, the tower was designed by the Egyptian architect Naoum Shebib, inspired by the Ancient Egyptian Architecture.^[1] Its partially open lattice-work design is intended to evoke a pharaonic lotus plant, an iconic symbol of Ancient Egypt. The tower is crowned by a circular observation deck and a rotating restaurant^[2] with a view over greater Cairo. One rotation takes approximately 70 minutes.

In the 1960s, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser announced that the funds for the construction of the Tower originated with the Government of the United States, which had provided $US6 million to him as a personal gift with the intent of currying his favour. Affronted by the attempt to bribe him, Nasser decided to publicly rebuke the U.S. government by transferring all of the funds to the Egyptian government for use in building the tower, which was 'visible from the US Embassy just across the Nile, as a taunting symbol of Egypt's, Africa and the Middle East's resistance, revolutions and pride'.^[3]

Between 2006 and 2008 it underwent a EGP 15 million restoration project, completed in time for its fiftieth anniversary in April 2011.^{[citation needed]}