Most Cairenes don't know this: 150 years ago, you could take a boat from Azbakeya to Abbasiya. Cairo had canals, like Venice.
*The City of Canals*
Before 1900, Cairo had three major canals that brought Nile water into the city:
1. *Khalij El Masry (The Egyptian Gulf):* The biggest one. It started from Old Cairo near the mouth of Khalij, went through Sayyida Zeinab, Bab El Khalk, Azbakeya, and ended in Abbasiya. It was 30 meters wide. You could swim in it, wash clothes, and ride feluccas. On its banks were palaces and gardens.
2. *Khalij El Zafarana:* In Abbasiya and Heliopolis area, feeding the royal gardens.
3. *El Ismaileya Canal:* Built by Khedive Ismail to feed his new Ismailia district (Downtown) with fresh water.
Cairo in the 1870s looked like this: water everywhere, bridges everywhere, houses with stairs leading directly into the canal. French travelers wrote: "Cairo is the Venice of the East."
The famous Azbakeya Park was actually a lake fed by the Khalij. The park you see today was water.
*Why Did We Fill Them?*
Three reasons:
- *Cholera:* In 1883 and 1902, cholera epidemics killed thousands. Doctors said stagnant canal water spread disease. The British administration decided to fill them for hygiene.
- *Trams:* Khedive wanted trams and cars, not boats. Canals were in the way of straight streets. So Khalij Street (Port Said Street today) was built directly on top of the filled canal.
- *Modernity:* The idea of a "modern city" in 1900 meant Paris, with boulevards, not Venice with canals. So Cairo chose to bury its water.
By 1902, Khalij El Masry was completely filled. In just 10 years, Venice became a dusty city.
*The Traces Still Exist*
If you know where to look, the canals are still there:
- *Port Said Street* is so wide because it was a canal. It follows the exact curve of Khalij El Masry. That's why it curves instead of being straight.
- *El Khalij El Masry Street* in Old Cairo still has the name.
- *Sabils and mosques* like Sabil of Umm Abbas in Saliba - their stairs now go to the street, but they originally went down to water. The stairs now lead nowhere.
- The slight depression in Bab El Khalk and Sayyida - if you walk, you go down 2 meters. That's the old canal bed.
*What Did We Lose?*
We lost natural cooling. Canals cooled the air by 5 degrees. We lost transport - boats are cheaper than buses. We lost beauty. Imagine if Khalij El Masry still existed today, with cafes on its banks like in Amsterdam. Port Said Street would be the most beautiful street in Africa.
Some architects are now proposing to bring back a small part of it - a water channel in the new Al Azhar Park extension or in New Capital's Green River, which is actually inspired by the old Khalij.
Cairo was a water city. We made it a desert city. Maybe it's time to remember the water.
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