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Designer: Omar Kassab
Editor: Janet Sandle
Author’s note
Maadi is one of Cairo’s southern suburbs. It is an open, fenceless, borderless community where people of all walks of life interact. It is famous for its old trees and charming, beautiful villas, and its closeness to the River Nile. Maadi is unique in having a mixed architectural style, both old and new, with a focus on green public areas, gardens, roundabouts, and medians.
It is located approximately 12 km south of Cairo’s famous downtown Tahrir Square on the East Bank of the Nile. The name Maadi derives from the Arabic word ma’diyya, a reference to the ferries which cross the river until today.
Maadi’s serene, grand image can be seen in countless Egyptian movies produced during the Golden Age of Egyptian cinema. These cinematic scenes often took place in its villas and on the Maadi Corniche (the Nile waterfront promenade) plus in the prestigious Maadi Yacht and Sporting Club. Until today they remain memorable moments for all generations across the Arab world.
Having reached the 21st century and Cairo having grown into a megacity, it was inevitable that Maadi would become a mega suburb expanding from the original El Sarayat area to include Degla, Hadayek El Maadi, New Maadi, and Zahraa El Maadi.
My personal endeavour is to record and share my encounters with the characters you will meet in this book. The tales, essays, poems, and paintings, along with personal stories and anecdotes, with erudite details of original Maadi places and people, enrich my photographs of Maadi society. I have attempted here to assemble these figures of the Maadi palette that I hope will clarify its enigmatic character and bring you closer to understanding and respecting this place and its people. Whether they are the longtime residents, the famous personalities, the visionaries, the expatriates, the modern influencers or the everyday people, they are all Maadians contributing and belonging to this symbiosis of a community.