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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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Hungary's Oldest Library is Fighting to Save Books from Beetle Infestation

Books are kept in hermetically sealed plastic sacks for disinfection at the Pannonhalma Archabbey's library in Pannonhalma, Hungary, Thursday, July 3, 2025, as a beetle infestation threatens its ancient collection. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)
Books are kept in hermetically sealed plastic sacks for disinfection at the Pannonhalma Archabbey's library in Pannonhalma, Hungary, Thursday, July 3, 2025, as a beetle infestation threatens its ancient collection. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)
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Hungary's Oldest Library is Fighting to Save Books from Beetle Infestation

Books are kept in hermetically sealed plastic sacks for disinfection at the Pannonhalma Archabbey's library in Pannonhalma, Hungary, Thursday, July 3, 2025, as a beetle infestation threatens its ancient collection. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)
Books are kept in hermetically sealed plastic sacks for disinfection at the Pannonhalma Archabbey's library in Pannonhalma, Hungary, Thursday, July 3, 2025, as a beetle infestation threatens its ancient collection. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)

Tens of thousands of centuries-old books are being pulled from the shelves of a medieval abbey in Hungary in an effort to save them from a beetle infestation that could wipe out centuries of history.

The 1,000-year-old Pannonhalma Archabbey is a sprawling Benedictine monastery that is one of Hungary's oldest centers of learning and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Restoration workers are removing about 100,000 handbound books from their shelves and carefully placing them in crates, the start of a disinfection process that aims to kill the tiny beetles burrowed into them, The Associated Press reported.

The drugstore beetle, also known as the bread beetle, is often found among dried foodstuffs like grains, flour and spices. But they also are attracted to the gelatin and starch-based adhesives found in books.

They have been found in a section of the library housing around a quarter of the abbey's 400,000 volumes.

“This is an advanced insect infestation which has been detected in several parts of the library, so the entire collection is classified as infected and must be treated all at the same time,” said Zsófia Edit Hajdu, the chief restorer on the project. “We've never encountered such a degree of infection before.”

The beetle invasion was first detected during a routine library cleaning.

Employees noticed unusual layers of dust on the shelves and then saw that holes had been burrowed into some of the book spines. Upon opening the volumes, burrow holes could be seen in the paper where the beetles chewed through.

The abbey at Pannonhalma was founded in 996, four years before the establishment of the Kingdom of Hungary. Sitting upon a tall hill in northwestern Hungary, the abbey houses the country's oldest collection of books, as well as many of its earliest and most important written records.

For over 1,000 years, the abbey has been among the most prominent religious and cultural sites in Hungary and all of Central Europe, surviving centuries of wars and foreign incursions such as the Ottoman invasion and occupation of Hungary in the 16th century.

Ilona Ásványi, director of the Pannonhalma Archabbey library, said she is “humbled” by the historical and cultural treasures the collection holds whenever she enters.

“It is dizzying to think that there was a library here a thousand years ago, and that we are the keepers of the first book catalogue in Hungary,” she said.

Among the library’s most outstanding works are 19 codices, including a complete Bible from the 13th century. It also houses several hundred manuscripts predating the invention of the printing press in the mid-15th century and tens of thousands of books from the 16th century.

While the oldest and rarest prints and books are stored separately and have not been infected, Ásványi said any damage to the collection represents a blow to cultural, historical and religious heritage.

“When I see a book chewed up by a beetle or infected in any other way, I feel that no matter how many copies are published and how replaceable the book is, a piece of culture has been lost,” she said.

To kill the beetles, the crates of books are being placed into tall, hermetically sealed plastic sacks from which all oxygen is removed. After six weeks in the pure nitrogen environment, the abbey hopes all the beetles will be destroyed.

Before being reshelved, each book will be individually inspected and vacuumed. Any book damaged by the pests will be set aside for later restoration work.

The abbey, which hopes to reopen the library at the beginning of next year, believes the effects of climate change played a role in spurring the beetle infestation as average temperatures rise rapidly in Hungary.

Hajdu, the chief restorer, said higher temperatures have allowed the beetles to undergo several more development cycles annually than they could in cooler weather.

“Higher temperatures are favorable for the life of insects,” she said. “So far we've mostly dealt with mold damage in both depositories and in open collections. But now I think more and more insect infestations will appear due to global warming.”

The library’s director said life in a Benedictine abbey is governed by a set of rules in use for nearly 15 centuries, a code that obliges them to do everything possible to save its vast collection.

“It says in the Rule of Saint Benedict that all the property of the monastery should be considered as of the same value as the sacred vessel of the altar,” Ásványi said. “I feel the responsibility of what this preservation and conservation really means.”