Al-Sennari House to host ‘Military Fortifications of the French Campaign in Cairo’ free symposium on October 12

CAIRO – 11 October 2021: On October 12 at 5 p.m., the House of Culture and Science, known as Al-Sennari House, is organizing a free symposium open to the public under the title "Military Fortifications of the French Campaign in Cairo".

The symposium revolves around the military sites established by the French campaign in Cairo, and reviews the plans of the French campaign for such sites.

The symposium will also answer many questions about the reasons behind building the sites and how they were built, and will discuss the philosophy of choosing these sites, and how Bonaparte changed the urban planning in Cairo to serve his military aspirations.

It is worth noting that the French campaign established in Cairo about 41 military sites, between a fortress, a tower and a logistic site, in separate and vital places.

Nothing remains of those sites except some inscriptions on the walls of Cairo and a single tower on Al-Fawatim Street. The Committee for the Preservation of Arab Antiquities worked to remove most of these fortresses.

The military system that Bonaparte established in Cairo eventually failed, but it was an important episode in the history of French military architecture, which he later benefited from in his conquests.