Helwan

Helwan ( ', , ) is a suburban district in the Southern Area of Cairo, Egypt. The area of Helwan witnessed prehistoric, ancient Egyptian, Roman and Muslim era activity. More recently it was designated as a city until as late as the 1960s, before it became contiguous with the city of Cairo and was incorporated as a district. For a brief period between April 2008 and April 2011 it was redesignated as a city, and served as the capital of the now defunct Helwan Governorate that was split from Cairo and Giza governorates, before being re-incorporated back into them. The ''kism'' of Helwan had a population of 521,239 in the 2017 census.

History

The Helwan and Isnian cultures of the late Epipalaeolithic, and their Ouchata retouch methods for creating microlithic tools may have contributed to the development of the Harifian cultural assemblage of the Sinai, which may have introduced Proto-Semitic languages into the Middle East. Around 3000 to 2600 BC, there was a cemetery near Helwan serving the city of Memphis.

The city of Helwan was founded in 689 CE as Fustat's temporary replacement as the capital of Umayyad Egypt by its governor Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan, who died in the new city.

The Khedivial Astronomical Observatory was built here 1903–1904, and was used to observe Halley's comet. Egypt's oldest and largest private psychiatric clinic, the Behman Hospital, was constructed here in 1939.

During the early part of the 20th century, the city was the site of RAF Helwan, a major British airfield, which was later used by the Egyptian Air Force.

In 1959 Helwan was chosen to serve as a site of a major industrial city, as part of President Gamal Abdel Nasser's attempts to industrialize Egypt. Throughout the 1960s, it developed into a massive steelworks zone, with numerous automobile factories being built. The site continues to use electricity from the Aswan Dam and iron ore from Egypt's western deserts. Helwan was gradually transformed into a mass suburb of Cairo for the working class.

Helwan Governorate

In April 2008, the Helwan Governorate was split from the Cairo Governorate, encompassing most of the districts outside the ring road, as well as all satellite cities ( 15th May, New Cairo, Shorouk, Badr, and Huckstep) and the undeveloped desert. Helwan was elevated to city status, incorporating the districts of al-Ma'sara, 'Ain Helwan (qism Helwan), and al-Mustaqbal (prev. 15 May), and became the capital of the new governorate. Maadi was also elevated to city status, incorporating the districts of Maadi, Tora, al-Tibin and al-Nahda. Helwan Governorate later incorporated the rural counties (marakiz, sing. markaz) of Al-Saf and Atfih from the Giza Governorate's former jurisdiction east of the Nile.

Following the dissolution of the Helwan Governorate in April 2011, all cities and districts returned to their previous statuses, and the city of Helwan was reincorporated as a district.

File:Helwan points (Abu Salem points sub-type).jpg, Helwan points (Abu Salem points sub-type)
File:Map of the Levantine sites with Helwan points.jpg, Map of the Levantine sites with Helwan points

Ecclesiastical history

Alphocranon was important enough in the Late Roman province of Arcadia Aegypti to be a suffragan of its Metropolitan Archbishop of Oxyrhynchus.

Its bishop, Harpocration, participated in the First Council of Nicaea in 325. The bishopric is mentioned in two ''Notitiae Episcopatuum''.

Titular see

No longer a residential diocese, Alphocranon is today listed by the Catholic Church as a Latin Catholic titular bishopric,''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ), p. 829 nominally restoring the diocese since 1933, but no incumbent is recorded.

Administrative subdivisions and population

In the 2017 census, Helwan had 521,239 residents in 8 shiakhas:

Economy

Local industry includes iron, steel, textiles and cement. The area has hot sulphur springs, an astronomical observatory, the Helwan University and a burial chamber (discovered in 1946). It is the southern terminus of Cairo's light rail Metro Line 1. Also trams in Helwan used to serve the people.

Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (BWh). Owing to its proximity to Cairo, its average monthly temperatures are quite similar, but it has a quite different distribution of humidity and its diurnal average temperature variation is slightly larger.

Notability

* Sadd el-Kafara, one of the earliest prehistoric man-made dams in the world.
* Harold Knox-Shaw, one of the earliest astronomy specialists in Helwan Observatory.
* John Reynolds, one of the earliest astronomy specialists in Helwan Observatory & president of the English Royal Astronomical Society between 1935 and 1937.
* Operation Priha: Helwan was targeted in Priha-1.
* Tewfik Pasha died in his palace at Helwan.
* The 6th Armoured Division (South Africa) was present at Helwan during WW II.
* The 82-BM-37 is known as "Helwan M-69 82mm mortar".
* Abdul Rahman Hassan Azzam Pasha lived in Helwan.
* Moataz Eno was born in Helwan.
* Cars produced at Helwan:
** Nasr 128
** Sahin 1.4S
** Sahin 1.6SL
** Zastava Florida In
** Fiat 1100
** Fiat 1300/1500
** Fiat 2300
** Polski Fiat 125p/FSO 125p
** FSO Polonez MR'83/MR'85
** FSO Polonez MR'86/MR'87/MR'89
** Fiat Ritmo
** Fiat Regata
** Fiat Tempra
* The English Middle East Command Camouflage Directorate was present in Helwan.
* Geoffrey Barkas designed the Operation Bertram while heading Middle East Command Camouflage Directorate.
* A crater on the 951 Gaspra asteroid was named after the spa city of Helwan.
* Inebu-hedj

In Popular Culture

Algernon Blackwood's novella ''Sand'' is set largely in Helwan.

See also

* List of ancient Egyptian sites, including sites of temples
* 15th of May
* Greater Cairo
* Helwan retouch
* Helwan University
* El Tebin
* Maadi

References

External links

*
Helwan on Wikivoyage

{{Authority control

Populated places in Cairo Governorate
7th-century establishments in the Umayyad Caliphate
Districts of Cairo
Helwan
Populated places established in the 7th century
Districts of Greater Cairo