Attempt to demolish Alexandria archeological building foiled

CAIRO – 5 August 2017: Alexandria Governor Mohamed Soltan foiled an attempt by the owner of an archeological building to demolish it on Saturday by issuing an order halting all demolition works and taking legal measures against officials who issued a demolition license.

It is called Hamam Abou El Dahab building and is located in the Atarein neighborhood in Alexandria governorate.

What’s more, workers were arrested and referred to the public prosecution. The owner was called to sign an abiding statement that he would not start any demolition works without the permission of municipal authorities.

Soltan told the press that the building had four archeological columns that were moved to the archeological zone Com Naaddourh in the same governorate. The governor stated that the building was registered as an archeological site and that a court ruled in 2006 that the issuance of any demolition licenses for the building is banned, as well as cancelling any former ones.

The owner filed a petition to renew former demolition licenses, and it was approved in 2017. He set a fence around the building on Saturday in order to demolish it, but the act was detected and reported to authorities.

Mohamed Metwaly, General Manager of the Islamic and Coptic Monuments sector at the Ministry of Antiquities, told El Masry El Youm on Saturday that the building, which was an Ottoman-era spa, is not registered in the ministry’s records as an archeological site.

Metwaly explained that the spa was examined multiple times by certain committees, which found out that it had lost its main architectural features.