Mar 16, 2018

CAIRO — The destruction of historical palaces in Alexandria was foreshadowed by a popular TV series called “The White Flag” in 1988. It depicted the efforts of a woman, illiterate but rich and influential, to buy an old palace and have it torn down to be replaced by a huge residential tower.

In February, in response to so many old mansions being torn down, including the Alexandria villa that inspired British author Lawrence Durrel to write his famous “Alexandria Quartet,” a campaign called “The Country's Architecture: An Identity Worth Saving” alerted Egyptians to the heritage that is being destroyed. To enhance awareness of the country's historic buildings, a website is archiving Egypt's historical and architectural heritage.

Welad al-Balad, an award-winning media production and advertising firm, ran the campaign in every Egyptian governorate from Feb. 11 to March 11. Its media partners included Al-Masry al-Youm, Masrawy and the Emirati Al-Ayn as well as several development partners such as the Misr el-Kheir Foundation, Al-Warsha group and Al-Turath Library.

Fatima Farag, manager of Welad al-Balad, told Al-Monitor that the archive project is based on the concept of citizen journalism. The company trained volunteers in writing, editing and photography before assigning them various tasks. Some wrote articles about the historical buildings in different governorates and others took pictures. Another group was trained on social media and web maintenance. Yet another group of volunteers organized seminars and meetings with specialists.

Within a month, the participants of “The Country's Architecture: An Identity Worth Saving” posted more than 130 articles, ranging from press reports about the history of historical buildings to investigative reports and photo albums. At the closing ceremony March 11, the campaigners presented a documentary on the historical heritage of Egypt and the need to protect it.