Blooming in Cairo – The $30-million park project was spearheaded by the Aga Khan

Click above for photographs. Also check the video here.

Written by John Feeney Photographed by Dana Smillie

What strange power do plants, trees and splashing water exert upon us? Have you ever noticed how, from the moment you enter a garden, and for as long as you wish to stay, you are no longer quite the same person? In the presence of trees and flowers, a sense of peace embraces you. Yet strangely, while giving refreshment to body and spirit, the trees and flowers around you are completely silent. Is this a subconscious remembrance of “a paradise lost”?

–snip–

The $30-million park project was spearheaded by the Aga Khan, whose family ties to Cairo date back to its founding by the Fatimids in 969. A thousand years later, in November 1984, as part of his interest in inviting local residents to contribute to the modernization of the Muslim world, the Aga Khan called a conference entitled “The Expanding Metropolis: Coping with the Urban Growth of Cairo” to address the city’s rapid population growth, the decline in the quality of its housing and associated problems.

When the meeting concluded, the Aga Khan decided to give a park to the city as a substantive contribution. He had a vision of providing Cairo with a large, open public area with trees, flowers and running water, in the manner of a traditional Islamic garden, “which would enhance the life of local communities” and also serve as a case study for a variety of modern urban development challenges. A park, he thought, would be an ideal gift, if only enough space could be found in this teeming city of 17 million souls where, according to one report, the amount of green space per resident was only about 350 square centimeters—the area of a man’s footprint.

–snip–

This article appeared on pages 12-17 of the July/August 2008 print edition of Saudi Aramco World.

Complete at the source – Slide show