The Imaret and the dwelling complex of the founder of the last Egyptian dynasty are two of the most important urban features of the historic center of Kavala. Nowadays their destiny is connected with the viability of a firm, in spite of the Law 1490/8 of 1984, which provides the restoration and revival of real estates “for the benefit of cultural causes of both sides”, that is the Greek and the Egyptian one. Having as starting-point the lodgings of Mohammed AN, two urban interventions have been carried out: the first, that caused the tearing down of a large number of houses, was the construction of Imaret, which housed educational and charitable functions; the second had to do with the formation of the royal square, which was decorated with the statue of his lordship. The mansion, although it was inconspicuously incorporated in the urban network in its initial phase, is today a sticking out architecture. Since the mid-war years it has been used as a museum, forming an entity with the royal square. The worries of the Egyptian part and of the local society for its preservation are justifiable, however the perspective to be reused as a restaurant, and thus to be treated as a merchandise, at the expense of both societies, on the one hand monopolizes the development targets connected with this monument, and on the other shrinks and reduces the public space of the city.
Kavala: Reuse or the Bric-a-Brac of Monuments
27 Aug 2012
by Archaeology Newsroom
- A
- A
- A