(FILES) This picture taken on June 24, 2023, shows a partial view of demolished structures near the Khanqah (Sufi place of religious gathering) of Qawsun (Qusun), built around 1336, in Sayyida Aisha cemetery in Egypt’s capital Cairo, as part of an ongoing government project to construct new roads and infrastructure. – The Egyptian government says the destruction of cemeteries in Cairo is necessary to build new roads and bridges that they hope will improve traffic in the congested, densely-populated capital, home to around 22 million people. (Photo by Khaled DESOUKI / AFP) CAIRO — Twenty years after burying him, Egyptian architect Ahmed el-Meligui was forced to exhume his grandfather’s remains from a historic Cairo cemetery that is being partially razed to accommodate the growing mega-city.
“Death itself is a tragedy. Here, you are reliving that tragedy all over again,” said the 43-year-old, who had 23 relatives in total removed from their family tomb, located in a sprawling cemetery known as the City of the Dead in Old Cairo. Since 2020, thousands of graves have been demolished at the UNESCO-listed World Heritage site, one of the oldest necropolises in the Muslim world.
READ: From creaking Cairo, Egypt plans high-tech leap with new capital It is the latest piece of Cairo’s history to be torn apart as authorities aggressively remake parts of the city, a longtime cultural beacon of the Arab world. The Egyptian government says the cemetery’s destruction is necess.