Egypt's Age of Transition: Unintentional Cosmopolitanism during the Reign of Muhammad ‘Alī (1805–1848)

Marwa El Ashmouni Marwa El Ashmouni,Katharine Bartsch Katharine Bartsch

doi:10.13169/arabstudquar.36.1.0043

Abstract

This article examines cosmopolitanism during the reign of Muhammad ‘Alī whose architectural patronage was intertwined with his political aspirations for independence and reform. The Alabaster Mosque and Shubra Palace were prominent in the image of the nascent state and they serve as potent examples of the Pasha's openness to diverse ideas (which was highly controlled) and his cultivation of multiple loyalties in the effort to consolidate power. Connecting Muhammad Alī's“enframing of modernity,” posited by Timothy Mitchell in Colonising Egypt (1988), with Ulrich Beck's articulation of“unintentional cosmopolitanism,” in The Cosmopolitan Vision (2006), these projects are interpreted as a“side-effect” of the Pasha's efforts to materialize both national and imperial aspirations. This cosmopolitan lens provides a timely insight into the complex cultural encounters that have shaped Egyptian history, given the recent protests against existing regimes and imperialist forces of global capitalism; forces which, similarly, thwarted ‘Alī's endeavors in the nineteenth century.

Highlights

This article examines cosmopolitanism during the reign of Muhammad ‘Alī whose architectural patronage was intertwined with his political aspirations for independence and reform
The lead cladding of the domes and minarets was completed by Turkish craftsmen, the alabaster facing is attributed to Egyptian masons supervised by the foreigner Khwāja Simon, and the copper windows were based on drawings by an Armenian artist.[4]
Creswell and Doris Behrens-Abouseif, as conservative and stagnant.[25]. This perception of conservatism in relation to architecture lies at the heart of Muhammad ‘Alī’s political agenda for reform and, we propose, is key to interpreting the eclectic nature of the architecture constructed during his reign— revealing a distinct new architectural vocabulary—which has not previously been discussed from the perspective of cosmopolitanism

Summary

Introduction

This article examines cosmopolitanism during the reign of Muhammad ‘Alī whose architectural patronage was intertwined with his political aspirations for independence and reform.

Results

Conclusion