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Cairo’s Marsam Al-Qalaa Draws Visitors Passionate about Heritage

A side of the breathtaking view from the atelier's balcony. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A side of the breathtaking view from the atelier's balcony. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Cairo’s Marsam Al-Qalaa Draws Visitors Passionate about Heritage

A side of the breathtaking view from the atelier's balcony. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
A side of the breathtaking view from the atelier's balcony. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

In the heart of Historic Cairo, a new art space with an exceptional view of the surrounding Islamic architecture, Marsam Al-Qalaa (Castle Altier), opened its doors a few days ago.

The atelier is unique because of its location. From the seventh floor of an old building on a hill in the El-Khalifa neighborhood close to the square of the Salaheddine Al-Ayoubi Citadel (southern Cairo), the atelier offers visitors a panoramic view of the heritage buildings and monuments that surround it.

Some of these sites include the Sultan Hassan Mosque-Madrassa, Al-Rifai Mosque, Mosque of Qani-Bay al-Rammah and others, as well as the House of Egyptian Architecture and the Mostafa Kamel Museum.

The studio is home to a spacious hall and three others of various sizes: the Sultan, the Castle, and the Archives. It is furnished with simple items that mirror the neighborhood’s Islamic heritage. It also includes an 18-meter-long balcony where visitors can marvel at the breathtaking view.

Principal of the Al-Qalam School of Art for Arabic Calligraphy and Ornamentation, Mohamed Wahdan, founded the atelier.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said: “We have always had the idea of providing a safe and spacious haven for creatives and making it available to those interested in working in an alternative environment.”

Regarding long-term objectives, he said he was seeking to reinvigorate the surrounding area, which had always been known as the “Montmartre of the Citadel” area.

He added that he wants to work with travel and tourism agencies to make the atelier part of Historic Cairo packages.

“The studio is an independent cultural center affiliated with the Al-Qalam Foundation. It is a non-profit that offers services. We will collaborate with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in light of the state’s movement towards developing and enhancing cultural tourism in the surrounding area. And we have already drafted protocols for this cooperation,” he explained.

Inside, visitors can meet cultural and artistic titans during the events and activities it organizes. Issam Safi El-Din, founder of the Egyptian Architectural House, is among them.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that “despite the difficulty of going up to the seventh floor - I am on the verge of turning 80 - I was determined to visit the studio because it brings something new to the Egyptian scene, and I expect that it will have developmental and social benefits.”

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Largest Piece of Mars on Earth Fetches $5.3 Million at Auction, but Young Dinosaur Steals the Show

A Martian meteorite, weighing 54.388 lbs. (24.67 kg), said to be the largest piece of Mars on Earth, at Sotheby's, in New York, July 9, 2025. (AP)
A Martian meteorite, weighing 54.388 lbs. (24.67 kg), said to be the largest piece of Mars on Earth, at Sotheby's, in New York, July 9, 2025. (AP)
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Largest Piece of Mars on Earth Fetches $5.3 Million at Auction, but Young Dinosaur Steals the Show

A Martian meteorite, weighing 54.388 lbs. (24.67 kg), said to be the largest piece of Mars on Earth, at Sotheby's, in New York, July 9, 2025. (AP)
A Martian meteorite, weighing 54.388 lbs. (24.67 kg), said to be the largest piece of Mars on Earth, at Sotheby's, in New York, July 9, 2025. (AP)

The largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth was sold for just over $5 million at an auction of rare geological and archaeological objects in New York on Wednesday. But a rare young dinosaur skeleton stole the show when it fetched more than $30 million in a bidding frenzy.

The 54-pound (25-kilogram) rock named NWA 16788 was discovered in the Sahara Desert in Niger by a meteorite hunter in November 2023, after having been blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike and traveling 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) to Earth, according to Sotheby's. The estimated sale price before the auction was $2 million to $4 million.

The identity of the buyer was not immediately disclosed. The final bid was $4.3 million. Adding various fees and costs, the official sale price was about $5.3 million. The live bidding was slow, with the auctioneer trying to coax more offers and decreasing the minimum bid increases.

The dinosaur skeleton, on the other hand, sparked a bidding war. With a pre-auction estimate of $4 million to $6 million, it is one of only four known Ceratosaurus nasicornis skeletons and the only juvenile skeleton of the species, which resembles the Tyrannosaurus rex but is smaller.

Bidding for the skeleton started with a high advance offer of $6 million, then escalated during the live round with bids $500,000 higher than the last and later $1 million higher than the last before ending at $26 million. People applauded after the auctioneer gaveled the bidding closed.

The official sale price was $30.5 million with fees and costs. That buyer also was not immediately disclosed.

Parts of the skeleton were found in 1996 near Laramie, Wyoming, at Bone Cabin Quarry, a gold mine for dinosaur bones. Specialists assembled nearly 140 fossil bones with some sculpted materials to recreate the skeleton and mounted it so it’s ready to exhibit, Sotheby’s says. It was acquired last year by Fossilogic, a Utah-based fossil preparation and mounting company.

It’s more than 6 feet (2 meters) tall and nearly 11 feet (3 meters) long, and is believed to be from the late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago. Ceratosaurus dinosaurs could grow up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) long, while the T. rex could be 40 feet (12 meters) long.

The bidding for the Mars meteorite began with two advance offers of $1.9 million and $2 million. The live bidding slowly proceeded with increases of $200,000 and $300,000 until $4 million, then continued with $100,000 increases until reaching $4.3 million.

The red, brown and gray meteorite is about 70% larger than the next largest piece of Mars found on Earth and represents nearly 7% of all the Martian material currently on this planet, Sotheby’s says. It measures nearly 15 inches by 11 inches by 6 inches (375 millimeters by 279 millimeters by 152 millimeters).

It was also a rare find. There are only 400 Martian meteorites out of the more than 77,000 officially recognized meteorites found on Earth, the auction house says.

“This Martian meteorite is the largest piece of Mars we have ever found by a long shot,” Cassandra Hatton, vice chairman for science and natural history at Sotheby’s, said in an interview before the auction. “So it’s more than double the size of what we previously thought was the largest piece of Mars.”

It’s not clear exactly when the meteorite was blasted off the surface of Mars, but testing showed it probably happened in recent years, Sotheby's says.

Hatton said a specialized lab examined a small piece of the red planet remnant and confirmed it was from Mars. It was compared with the distinct chemical composition of Martian meteorites discovered during the Viking space probe that landed on Mars in 1976, she said.

The examination found that it is an “olivine-microgabbroic shergottite,” a type of Martian rock formed from the slow cooling of Martian magma. It has a course-grained texture and contains the minerals pyroxene and olivine, Sotheby’s says.

It also has a glassy surface, likely due to the high heat that burned it when it fell through Earth’s atmosphere, Hatton said. “So that was their first clue that this wasn’t just some big rock on the ground,” she said.

The meteorite previously was on exhibit at the Italian Space Agency in Rome. Sotheby’s did not disclose the owner.

Wednesday’s auction was part of Sotheby’s Geek Week 2025 and featured 122 items, including other meteorites, fossils and gem-quality minerals.