Page 225 - Features of an Era

dive Isma’il in Isma’ilia Square. A photograph of the Egyptian sculptor Mustafa
Metwally in his sixties
Although the statue of King Fouad
was already put up in Abdeen Square
and covered with burlap, waiting for the
erection of the statue of Khedive Isma’il
on its pedestal in Isma’ilia Square, the
political situation soon changed; the July
23rd, 1952 Revolution broke out, and the
projects of the two statues stopped. A few
months later, the statue of King Fouad was
removed from Abdeen Square, while the
pedestal of the statue of Khedive Isma’il
remained in the same position. For many
long years, it was used as a place for the
flame of liberation coming from Aswan
to Cairo in celebration of the Revolution
every year, and for almost forty years, it
was one of most famous landmarks of
Cairo before its removal in 1990.
«After the July 23rd, 1952 Revolution, the
name of the square was changed to Al-
Horreya Square, then to Tahrir Square.
At the time of the raging storms followed
the departure of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the
public opinion suggested the erection of
a massive statue befitting the status of
leader Nasser on the statueless pedestal.
Certainly, President Anwar Sadat was not
psychologically ready to implement such
an idea, and he probably thought that this
pedestal would hold his statue someday.
But that day did not come, as the pedestal
itself was dismantled in 1990, due to the
digging for the completion of the Metro
project,»(25)

Statue of Khedive Isma’il, bronze, 185 cm high, by
Mustafa Metwally

(25) Ramzy, Kamal: Memory of the Place Has Smell, Color and Taste, El-Shorouk newspaper, March 16th,
2011.

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