Paris along the Nile: Architecture in Cairo from the Belle Epoque

Cairo, 'Mother of the World': its vividly diverse neighborhoods and building styles reveal its cosmopolitan energy and reflect the myriad of economic, political, and cultural forces that have shaped the city over the centuries. So impressed was Khedive Ismail after a visit to Haussman's 'new' Paris in 1867 that he decided to build a modern city along the same architectural lines and aesthetics, and brought European architects to Cairo to initiate Egypt's most dynamic building period since med…