#mogamma

A pair of somewhat surreptitious early-morning shots of Al-Mogamma (the complex”) the infamous landmark of Egypt’s sclerotic state bureaucracy, a 14-story Kafkaesque labyrinth of government offices where identity paperwork is obtained, permits are sought, documents are processed, authorizations are stamped and filed, connections are leaned on, bribes are paid. 

Built in the early 1950s in the last days of the old monarchy, in the decades hence it has only become more Byzantine, stuffing as many as 30,000 bureaucrats in a building meant for a fraction that much, its role symbolizing ordinary Egyptians relationship with their government has been portrayed in Egyptian film. There is near-constant rumor and speculation about its closure, dispersing the state’s administration to various, probably distant suburban facilities—indeed a New Cairo capital city is under construction 40kms east of the city center, but year after year Egyptian citizens are made to return to the same, huge old edifice to try to get through “the process.” Muhammad Kamal Ismail & Fahmy Momen, architects, completes 1951. Photos March 2020 Bauzeitgeist.