EGYPTIAN NEO-PHARAONIC ARCHITECTURE 1922-1932: A NATIONALISTIC EXPRESSIVE TOO

The impact of Ancient Egypt civilisation on the West has taken many forms. In fact, what could be contradictory to the Egyptian fascination towards the Moderization charisma, is foreigners’ empathy about the Pharaonic architecture, which has long fascinated subsequent cultures. Nonetheless, the remarkable fact is that only a scattering of buildings show NeoPharaonic influence in Egypt. So, our understanding of the development of the styles, and characteristic features remains stylistically and characteristically partially discovered and investigated. During such overlapping process of transition, a new field for research to be explored: the Nationalist Neo-Pharaonic style, introduced and adopted by the Egyptian Patriotic Movement, and which was influenced by the Neo-Classical and Modern features. This paper also attempts to understand why this style was so short lived by analysing 20th century Egyptian Neo-Pharaonic buildings. In this paper, selected Egyptian buildings designed according to the Neo-Pharaonic influences will be high-lighted, and analyzed from the point of view of morphology of form, architectural elements and details, in order to delineate appropriations that occurred to 20th century Western architecture. The analysis is applied against a backdrop of political, social and historical influences resulting in three categories: the Neo-Classical, Nationalist, and Abstract Pharaonic. Thereupon, the paper discovers the main characteristic features of such style, which appears to have been the domineering architectural style during the first half of the 20th century. The analysis shows that because this style was derived and developed in Europe, it was alien in its own homeland. Ironically, the Neo-Pharaonic became a difficult, external, and exotic style for Egypt.