Al-Azhar Park, One of The world's Great Public Spaces

Al-Azhar Park is a major park in Cairo's Darb al-Ahmar neighborhood in Egypt.

Al-Azhar Park on Al-Darassa spans 30 hectares and was opened in 2005 by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture's Historic Cities Programme to act as a 'green lung' for the city, as its largest designed greenspace.

Previously a municipal rubbish dump (for about 500 years), approximately 80,000 truckload of debris had to be removed before construction started and in the process a 12th century Ayyubid city wall of Cairo that was built during the reign of Salah el-Din, as well as some valuable stones with hieroglyphic texts were uncovered!

Among several honors, this park is listed as one of the world's sixty great public spaces by Project for Public Spaces (PPS).[1] The Park was created by the Historic Cities Support Programme (HCSP) of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), an entity of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). The park, developed at a cost in excess of USD $30 million, was a gift to Cairo from His Highness the Aga Khan. It is interesting to note that the city of Cairo was founded in the year 969 by the Fatimid Imam-Caliphs who were ancestors of the Aga Khan.

The park project was not only the development of the park, but also included aspects of archeology (12th century Ayyubid wall), historic building rehabilitation (14th Century Umm Sultan Shaban Mosque, the 13th century Khayrbek complex, and the Darb Shoughlan School) and several quality of life improvement initiatives. Those initiatives included skills training, area rehabilitation, microfinance, and support in the areas of health and education among others.

At the Northern end of the park, an "Urban Plaza" project is under development which will house the Museum of Historic Cairo. The Urban Plaza will be a mixed-use centre with underground car parking, shops and cultural facilities. It is being built by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in cooperation with the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt.[2] The Museum will describe the evolution of Egypt's capital city Cairo[3], and house some of the great wealth of art and artefacts of the city's Islamic heritage that are not currently on display. With 4,000 square metres of exhibition space spread over two floors, the museum is expected to have 1,000 pieces on display from different historical periods. It will provide visitors insight into the urban, cultural and architectural history of the heart of Cairo.[2] To conserve and restore all the artefacts and artworks which will be shown in the museum, the Trust has set up a major conservation laboratory, which is training young technicians in this field. It is also being used to restore important art and architectural elements for the Cairo Museum of Islamic Art.[2]

In transforming such a large part of Cairo, which was for so long used as an open dump, the impact of Al-Azhar Park on the city is tremendous. It has been planned with a multitude of activities in mind and incorporates a conceptualised hilltop lookout kiosk, a children's play area, an amphitheatre and stage, playing fields, a viewing plaza and a historical wall promenade.