If you’re living in Cairo at present, you’re probably feeling nostalgic for a quieter city with fewer people in the streets. Here’s a photo to prove that your city was once more peaceful, well, at least outside this hospital. And there was a world war going on!
With a theme like ‘Nostalgic’ I just had to return to my father’s war album. I often think I’ve blogged about his best photos, but when I dig around it long enough I can still find a photo to match a challenge, especially this week when Cairo is undergoing yet more trouble and millions of people are in the streets. It’s the ideal time to post a photo taken in Cairo in about 1941. My father wrote “9th BGH Heliopolis” under it, that is, the 9th British General Hospital in the suburb of Heliopolis, Cairo.
Postscript: Thanks to Ahmad Omar (see his comment below) I now know that this was originally the Heliopolis Palace Hotel, opened in 1910, which became a hospital in both WWI and WWII and since the 1980s has been one of the Presidential Palaces where presidential offices are located.
A very different Cairo, Trish.
what a privilege to have all these pictures
I agree. Some towns hardly change in a hundred years. Cairo isn’t one of them!
I suppose it’s a privilege, though they weren’t really valuable to me until I started blogging. They had sat in a sideboard for decades. Now, 70-odd years later, enough time has passed since WWII for them to be interesting.
Looks like something out of an old time movie. Between dad and Cairo, perfect for nostalgia.
Makes me think of Casablanca…
That’s actually the presidential palace, opened in 1910 as the Heliopolis Palace Hotel, served as a hospital during both wars (WWI & II) now it is the main presidential palace where the presidential offices are located.
Thanks very much. I was hoping someone would tell me the name of this building. I’m very grateful, so now I can adjust my post.
Happy to do so. Thanks for sharing