1887 Egyptian Supervision of Public Work French-Arabic City Map or Plan of Giza

A scarce large-format bilingual (French - Arabic) city map of plan of Giza, Egypt, prepared by the Egyptian Supervision (Ministry) of Public Works and printed in 1887 by the National Printing Press of Egypt. It was produced as Giza was becoming an increasingly popular destination for European Egyptologists, a process facilitated by the completion of the railway seen here.

A Closer Look

Presenting the entirety of contemporary Giza, in the northern part of the modern city, this map provides granular detail on streets, landmarks, parks, gardens, government offices, and other features. The Nile River stands out prominently at right, while a series of canals can be seen inland. A grid surrounding the map corresponds to a bilingual index of streets at bottom, and streets are also numbered rather than named on the map itself. At bottom-right, a similar index of 'monuments' (mosques, churches, industrial works, shrines, schools, and the like) appears. Many of these sites still exist, such as the Souk al-Ahad Square (Place du Souk el-Ahad) and the Arbaeen Mosque (مسجد الأربعين, letter A here). A legend at bottom-left provides similar information, explaining the system of color shading indicating land use.

Ancient Meets Modern

At left is a rail line ('Ligne de la Haute Egypte'), which intersects a road named 'Route des Pyramides,' and train station (labelled with 'SM'). These bits of modern infrastructure, along with other innovations such a waterworks and some state-owned industrial works, reflect the 19th century modernization efforts of the khedivate founded by Mohammed Ali Pasha (who was especially eager to work with French engineers). But the road and railway (completed in 1873) were European-guided efforts motivated primarily by one reason: to gain access to archaeological sites, including the iconic pyramids outside Giza.

This map is especially interesting in that the remnant French influence on Egyptian modernization efforts is clear, even though the British had occupied Egypt in 1882 and taken control of government ministries, including Public Works. In any event, the European rush to explore the archeological ruins near Giza was not accompanied by any standards or oversight, resulting in a rather chaotic situation. The celebrated French Egyptologist Gaston Maspero (1846 - 1914) aimed to rectify this situation during his tenure as Director of the Egyptian Antiquities Service, where he instituted a permit system to control, though not halt, excavations and removals from archaeological sites, while also charging tourists a fee to visit sites, which was then used to maintain them (the year before this map's publication, Maspero undertook an important survey of the Great Sphinx of Giza, excavating some 20 meters of sand).

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by the General Directorate of Cities and Buildings of the Egyptian Supervision of Public Works (Ministère des travaux publics Direction generale des villes et bâtiments / نِظَارَة الأشغال العمومية ادار عمومن المدن والمبالخام خر) and the Cairo Inspectorate (l'Inspection du Caire), likely a subordinate office of the former. It was engraved by one Damilano, about whom no information is available, and printed by the National Printing Press (Imprimerie Nationale / المطبعه الأهليه بمصر) in Cairo in 1887. The map is quite rare, only appearing in the institutional holdings of the British Library and Cornell University in the OCLC.