Look at the car park beside the square. That is where the Khedivial Opera House stood, one of the city's best-loved buildings.

1An opera for a canal

Khedive Ismail had it built in a few months for the celebrations marking the opening of the Suez Canal. Designed by the Italian architect Pietro Avoscani, it opened on 1 November 1869 with Verdi's ‘Rigoletto’. It is considered the first opera house in Africa.

Ismail also wanted a work of his own, on an Egyptian theme. So ‘Aida’ was born, with a plot attributed to the Egyptologist Auguste Mariette and music by Verdi. The Franco-Prussian War delayed the arrival of the sets, made in Paris, and the premiere took place here on 24 December 1871. Verdi did not travel to Cairo to see it.

In the early hours of 28 October 1971, a fire destroyed the wooden building. A car park went up in its place, and the new Cairo Opera House opened in 1988 on Gezira Island.

2The horseman

The equestrian statue shows Ibrahim Pasha (1789-1848), son of Muhammad Ali and the most brilliant Egyptian general of his day. It was sculpted by the Frenchman Charles Cordier, who exhibited it in Paris in 1872 before shipping it to Cairo.

Behind it lies Ezbekiya Garden, which was a lake in Ottoman times. Napoleon had his headquarters in a house beside it, and General Kléber was assassinated in its garden in 1800.

3What to look for

  • The outstretched arm of Ibrahim Pasha.
  • The tall pedestal of pale stone.
  • The car park that occupies the opera's site.
Old photograph of the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo
The Khedivial Opera House, opened in 1869 and destroyed by fire in 1971.

Documented

The Khedivial Opera House opened on 1 November 1869, premiered ‘Aida’ on 24 December 1871 and burned down on 28 October 1971; the statue of Ibrahim Pasha is by Charles Cordier.

Sources and credits

Alia Nour, ‘Egyptian-French Encounters: Royal Monuments in Late Nineteenth-Century Egypt’, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide (2021); Cairo Governorate, Opera Square page; Hans Busch, ‘Verdi's Aida: The History of an Opera in Letters and Documents’ (1978).

Photos:

  • Equestrian statue of Ibrahim Pasha in Cairo's Opera Square: Maher27777, Dominio público.
  • Old photograph of the Khedivial Opera House in Cairo: Autor desconocido, Dominio público.

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