Overview: Denshway Museum: Symbol of Egyptian revolution history

CAIRO – 15 October 2017: Denshway Museum was constructed in 1963 in Denshway village, honoring the Denshway incident victims.

The museum was expanded to include a culture center in 1999.

It was designed to narrate the Denshway incident chronologically starting from the English occupation of the village to the trial.

A mini model for the village, a number of watermills, pigeon towers, British guns, and many portraits of major characters of the incident are exhibited in the museum.

The Denshway incident was one of the major historical incidents in modern Egyptian history, specially related to resisting British occupation.

The incident occurred in 1906 after a number of British officers hunted pigeons. This act angered the villagers, especially after one of the officers shot a woman from the village and a wheat container was burnt.

The villagers fought with the British officers who managed to flee, but one of them died due to heatstroke.

The British ambassador to Egypt at the time, Lord Cromer, instructed the officers to arrest more than 50 Egyptian villagers to be trialed. Four of the villagers were hanged and more than 12 were imprisoned.

A number of national leaders denounced the cruel and unfair reaction of the ambassador, and Moustafa Kamel toured in Europe to expose British violations.

A number of demonstrations broke out, and resulted in the end of Lord Cromer's presence in Egypt.

The Denshway incident reflects struggle, dignity, nationalism, patience and pride for all Egyptians.