Michael Haag captures Cairo’s main attraction in his pictorial guide
CAIRO: I was flipping through the book when a photograph of a downtown building grabbed my attention; its interior was stunning. I had driven by the Tiring department store in Ataba sq. countless times, with little more than a cursory glance. Not once did I consider entering it. It was a reminder that we often take for granted the riches that lie on our doorstep. A pictorial guide, “Cairo Illustrated is a quick reference guide to the capital city’s main attractions, and is just the kind of reminder we need.
Michael Haag, a London-based writer and photographer, describes the appeal of our sprawling cosmopolitan. “But as the sun sets over the Nile, the present slips away into timelessness. The call of the muezzins floating across the darkening city and the Pyramids of Giza, magnificently silhouetted against the shimmering horizon, are reminders that the monuments of the pharaohs and sultans lie within the compass of the city Egyptians call ‘Mother of the World’.
With a rich history spanning centuries, it’s a challenge to squeeze all of the city’s landmarks and treasures into one book. Instead, Haag selects what he thinks of as “the key places of interest.
Though most of them lie on the worn out tourist trails – the Pyramids, the Egyptian Museum and the Citadel – it is impossible to omit them from a city guide. However, there are still a few places featured in the book that most Caireans overlook.
Haag’s photographs provide a fresh perspective on the city. While the sites and monuments are usually blurred in the background as we rush passed, Haag draws our attention to the details: the columns of Al Azhar mosque’s courtyard that were originally taken from churches; a tile panel used to decorate a qibla wall; the stone-lined pit at the heart of the Nilometer; the intricacy of a Coptic tapestry featuring a troupe of musicians and dancers dating from the third or fourth-century.
Far from being a definitive guide to the city, it does provide an introduction to Cairo’s most popular attractions. The postcard-style photographs entice the reader to go take a look at the real thing. But Haag also includes a number of “no-frills images of the city – squatters’ buildings towering over an impoverished City of the Dead, the crowded alleys of Medieval Cairo – in a realistic portrayal of the city’s historic landmarks competing with the pressures of a growing urban center.
“Cairo Illustrated is an ideal companion for a visitor to the city. The author accompanies the photographs with brief historic description and interesting facts.
Then again if you have friends visiting from abroad, it’s good to have a copy handy when you have to play the part of a tour guide. Which makes me wonder why they haven’t published a pocketsize edition?
Cairo IllustratedBy Michael HaagThe American University in Cairo Press, 2006
