Cairo Biography: The grassroots movement reviving the city's soul and forgotten heritage

In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of young Cairenes gathered around the dome of Muhammad al-Hasawaty at al-Shafi’i Mosque and began to clean it.

What began as a small, practical act of care for one of the city’s many neglected sites soon grew into something much larger.

Under the guidance of researcher and founder Abdel Azim Fahmy, the effort gradually expanded to other overlooked landmarks and eventually took shape as a Facebook page titled Sīrat al-Qāhira — or Cairo Biography in English — inviting people from across the city to take part in preserving Cairo’s heritage.

With its focus on forgotten sites and a genuine commitment to raising awareness of their historic value, the initiative quickly resonated with a wide audience.

From these beginnings, Cairo Biography has evolved into a dynamic, independent project with a variety of activities under the clear mission of reviving the capital’s rich heritage. 

Now, as it marks its fifth anniversary, it stands as one of the most vibrant grassroots movements dedicated to documenting, preserving, and reimagining Cairo’s layered history.

Sincerity, passion and honesty

“We deal with Cairo not as a silent city, but as a living human who carries a multitude of stories within it. This is why the Cairo Biography is a human, and we tell her story,” says Abdel, summing up the philosophy behind the project. 

At its heart lie three guiding values: sincerity, passion, and honesty. These qualities have shaped not only how Cairo is represented, but also how people are invited to encounter their city — not as an object of interest, but as a living character with memory, personality, and identity whose story is still unfolding.

In line with this biographical approach, Abdel emphasises that Cairo Biography resists the temptation to beautify the city into a romantic postcard.

Instead, it seeks to encounter Cairo as it truly is, unveiling authentic stories from everyday life that echo not only through its most renowned sites but, more importantly, through its hidden and often neglected corners.

This ethos comes to life through open and participatory activities, steadily drawing an ever-growing audience from diverse backgrounds and areas, including residents, curious youth, experts, academics, and artists. 

One of its most distinctive activities is what the founder calls tamshiyyāt (walks), emphasising the distinction from merely defining them as gawlat (tours).

As Abdel explains, “In these walks, we go to the belly of Cairo, discovering its internal stories and connecting with the sense of the city.”

The tamshiyyāt lead participants inside lesser-known places, where they encounter not just architecture, but also the people, cinema, literature, and vibrant popular heritage embodied in narration and tales.

These walks are not just enriching cultural excursions; they are also social encounters. While discovering forgotten corners of the city, people meet one another – especially residents and visitors connecting across backgrounds – weaving new ties of community across different areas.

This social role extends to the charity component of Cairo Biography’s work, as the initiative collaborates with organisations such as Mu’assasat Abwāb al-Khayr to address problems spotted during walks and find practical solutions.

Connecting with the sense of the city

Beyond the tamshiyyāt, Cairo Biography has built a rich programme over the past five years, including monthly seminars (Nadawāt Sīrat al-Qāhira) at Bayt al-Sinnari that bring together specialists to raise awareness of heritage through focused thematic discussions.

The initiative’s diverse activities include the documentary film series Men Dorobeha El-Amera, which visually narrates Cairo’s many layers of history across its neighbourhoods on YouTube; a series of books published with Dār al-Ma‘ārif that extends its work into print; annual exhibitions combining visual arts, handcrafts and educational games; and the audio series Tagaliat Men Wahi Al-Athar (Manifestations Inspired by Antiquities), which brings the city to life through imagination, sound and memory, with each episode focusing on a different heritage site.

Alongside its grassroots activities, Cairo Biography has steadily forged partnerships, including collaborations such as participating in Cairo Urban Week with UN-Habitat, the Cairo Short Film Festival at Zawya, and other joint initiatives that broaden both its scope and impact.

As these partnerships grew, so did the initiative’s influence. Its work has begun to extend beyond the capital, with civil society groups in other cities showing a growing interest in collaboration.

This interest led to new partnerships last year in Ismailia and Alexandria, marking an important step in spreading its model of community-based heritage work.

Together, these connections show how Cairo Biography’s approach – grounded in sincerity, passion and honesty, and shaped by documentation and community engagement – continues to resonate widely and create meaningful change.

Evolution in difficult times

Despite its rapid growth and many achievements, Cairo Biography still faces significant challenges. While the initiative has made a positive impact on neighbourhoods and communities, inspiring awareness, curiosity and a passion for local heritage, its founder remains concerned about the city’s current direction.

“Cairo is going through its worst phase,” Abdel says. “There is no real understanding of the city, its history, its elements, its identity, and its spirit.”

While recognising the limitations of civil society initiatives, Cairo Biography has stayed committed to its purpose. It now focuses even more on helping people take control of their documentation, giving them the tools to protect their surroundings and stories.

For Abdel and his team, documentation is not only practical but also transformative and empowering. It preserves knowledge, protects memory, and allows communities to reclaim ownership of their heritage, even amid challenges beyond their control.

Notably, what began as small neighbourhood workshops has now developed into a structured project called Tawthīq al-Amkina (Documentation of Places). Through this initiative, residents are encouraged to record and share their own stories, without waiting for large-scale projects or outside interventions. 

A celebration of heritage and community

Earlier this year, Cairo Biography celebrated its fifth anniversary with a gathering at Bayt al-Sinnari. The event brought together people from across the city to reflect on how far the project has come and to celebrate the communities that have shaped it.

During the celebration, Abdel invited attendees to see Cairo in a new way. “We should reflect on our own look at Cairo,” he said, urging people to move beyond a touristic view and reconnect with the city on a deeper, more personal level.

The day featured exhibitions showcasing products from community initiatives across Cairo, along with speeches, storytelling sessions and a video tracing the project’s journey since its founding.

Awards were also given to selected initiatives that have played a vital role in preserving the city’s heritage, allowing them to share their experiences and add their voices to the wider story.

These moments highlighted not only Cairo Biography’s achievements, but also the collective effort behind heritage preservation across the city.

Recalling the Arabic saying “id liwahda ma tis’afsh” (one hand alone does not clap), Abdel spoke about the shared responsibility of protecting heritage. Individuals and initiatives, he said, come together not in isolation but united by their love for Cairo.

In this spirit, Cairo Biography marked its anniversary not simply by looking back, but by reaffirming that Cairo’s story belongs to everyone who helps to preserve, tell and reimagine it for generations to come – keeping alive the shared power of memory, documentation and heritage preservation. 

Born in Italy and educated in France and Egypt, Veronica Merlo has gained extensive experience in journalism, media, and communications, collaborating with a diverse range of media outlets, international organisations, and NGOs across Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, and France. She is the author of the book Sorprendersi in Egitto

Follow her on Instagram: almuhit_theocean