The Cairo Tower ( arz, برج القاهرة, ''Borg El-Qāhira'') is a free-standing concrete tower in Cairo, Egypt. At , it was the tallest structure in Egypt for 37 years until 1998, when it was surpassed by the

Suez Canal overhead powerline crossing The Suez Canal overhead powerline crossing is a major electrical power line built across the Suez Canal in 1998, located near Suez, Egypt. It is designed for two 500 kV circuits. Because the required clearance over the Suez Canal is , the overhe ...

. It was the tallest structure in North Africa for 21 years until 1982, when it was surpassed by the

Nador transmitter Nador transmitter is the main transmission facility for longwave and shortwave of Medi 1 Radio, a privately owned broadcasting company of Morocco. It is situated approximately 18 kilometres south of the city of Nador and a few kilometres s ...

in Morocco. It was the tallest structure in Africa for one year until 1962, when it was surpassed by

Sentech Tower The Sentech Tower, previously named the Albert Hertzog Tower and commonly known as the Brixton Tower, is a concrete television tower in the Brixton suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa, near the top of the Brixton Ridge. It is a well-known and e ...

in South Africa. One of Cairo's well-known modern monuments, sometimes considered Egypt's second most famous landmark after the Pyramids of Giza, it stands in the Gezira district on Gezira Island in the River Nile, close to

downtown Cairo Downtown Cairo ( arz, وسط البلد '' "middle of town")'', has been the urban center of Cairo, Egypt, since the late 19th century, when the district was designed and built. History Downtown Cairo was designed by prestigious French archit ...

History

Built from 1956 to 1961, the tower was designed by the Egyptian architect Naoum Shebib, inspired by the

Ancient Egyptian Architecture Spanning over three thousand years, ancient Egypt was not one stable civilization but in constant change and upheaval, commonly split into periods by historians. Likewise, ancient Egyptian architecture is not one style, but a set of styles diff ...

. Its partially open lattice-work design is intended to evoke a pharaonic

lotus Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...

plant, an iconic symbol of Ancient Egypt. The tower is crowned by a circular observation deck and a revolving restaurant that rotate around its axis occasionally with a view over greater Cairo. According to documents published by Major General Adel Shaheen, the funds for the construction of the tower were originated from the Government of the United States through the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

that represented by Kermit Roosevelt, which had provided around $US1-3 million to

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

as a personal gift to him with the intent of stopping his support for

Algerian Revolution The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...

and other African independence movements. Affronted by the attempt to bribe him, Nasser decided to publicly rebuke the U.S. government by transferring all of the funds to the Egyptian government for the use of the tower construction, which he stated that it would be "visible from the US Embassy just across the Nile, as a taunting symbol of Egypt's, Africa and the Middle East's resistance, revolutions and pride". The book also stated that the General Intelligence Service took full responsibility for everything related to the design and planning work, including the selection of the architect who was assigned to design, the construction work, and even providing the necessary materials for the building with the aim of giving the heroic character of the president. However, its design was controversial as the

Egyptians Egyptians ( arz, المَصرِيُون, translit=al-Maṣriyyūn, ; arz, المَصرِيِين, translit=al-Maṣriyyīn, ; cop, ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, remenkhēmi) are an ethnic group native to the Nile, Nile Valley in Egypt. Egyptian ...

called it the "waqf Roosevelt" ("Roosevelt's endowment"), which was then mistakenly interpreted by the

Embassy of Egypt in Washington, D.C. The Embassy of Egypt in Washington, D.C. is the diplomatic mission of the Arab Republic of Egypt to the United States. It is located at 3521 International Court, Northwest, Washington, D.C., in the Cleveland Park neighborhood. The embassy also ope ...

as the "waqef Roosevelt" ("Roosevelt's erection"). This prompted the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

s to react by calling it "Nasser's prick". Because of that, a local Islamic group issued a

fatwa A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...

to demolish the tower in the 1990s, stating that it "could excite Egyptian women", but this failed to be implemented due to its influence on national history and popularity among the nation and tourists. Between 2006 and 2009, the tower underwent an £E15 million restoration project that included a new installation of light decoration. It was stated that the project used the LED lamp for its efficiency on energy consumption.

Gallery

File:Cairo Tower Entrance.jpg, Cairo Tower Entrance File:Cairo Tower from below.jpg, Cairo Tower from below File:Egypt-2A-010 - Cairo (2217349050).jpg, Cairo Tower File:Late evening in Cairo.jpg, Cairo Tower at sunset

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External links