All Saints Cathedral

Today’s All Saints Episcopalian Cathedral is a modernist-inspired concrete shell structure located in Zamalek behind the Marriott Hotel. However, the church predates this current building, which was erected in 1988 and designed by Egyptian architects Awad Kamel and Selim Kamel. The current building was constructed by The Nile General Co. For Reinforced Concrete.

The Church in Egypt originated from the needs of British expatriates notably with the opening of the Suez canal in 1869. Building of the Church of St Mark in Alexandria was started in 1839 and a chaplain appointed in 1841. While missionaries (German) came to Egypt in 1825 the CMS first appointed the Rev F.A. Klein in 1882 to Egypt, who worked among the poor in Cairo; work previously begun by Miss Mary Whatley. That year, the British occupied Egypt on the pretext of supporting the Khedive against the Nationalists led by Arabi and British presence increased thereafter. The first All Saints’ Church in Cairo was opened in 1878.

The original church building (pictured above, on the left side of the frame of this 1966 photo) was facing the Nile at a prime location behind the Egyptian Museum and adjacent to the historic district of Boulac. The church complex included a school and boarding facilities.

During president Sadat’s tenure, construction on a massive elevated highway/bridge was begun, the current 6th of October bridge stretches across Cairo from Nasr City to the East and into Dokki in the West. Pictured above is the bridge construction across the Nile in 1976. To the far right of the frame and directly in the pathway of the bridge was the All Saints Cathedral, by then nearly a century old. Two years later in 1978, the church’s centennial, it was removed to make way for the road. Perhaps in a gesture that sums up Sadat’s urban and architectural contribution to Cairo in his efforts to turn the city into Los Angeles. His ambition was fueled by his policies towards the United States and his vision that cars were the way into the future. The church, not being part of Egypt’s Coptic community but rather having psudo-colonial origins (relation to British presence) was removed with little effort to save it, perhaps by redirecting the new road. In fact many subsequent historic structures that once lined important avenues were removed. The old church’s location is now the urban planning disaster that is Abdel Men`em Riad with a tangle of on and off ramps to the 6th October Bridge.

The new church was built across the river and rather than reconstruct the structure, the new design is a break with the past adopting a modernist style.

The new church is organized around an axial cross plan with an organ occupying the mezzanine above the main entrance. Folding walls on the four axes lead up to three diamonds above each wall which transition the concrete form from wall to ceiling. The folded ceiling funnels up with the highest point directly over the center of the cross plan culminating in a flat dome. On the exterior the folds terminate in pointed shapes making the entire roof structure reminiscent of a lotus flower.

Important to note that the building’s sculptural design utilizes similar architectural features found in Oscar Neimayer’s 1970 Cathedral of Brasilia. The two buildings are vastly different in plan, structure and experience (Brasilia’s being round in plan, with concrete ribs filled with glass), however it maybe interesting to consider them together.

For more on the history of the Episcopalian Church in Egypt, click here.