Mohandiseen (, ) is a major 1940s sub-division project originally named Madinat al-Awqaf, and made up most of the Wasat (middle) district in the city of
Giza
Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah, Gizeh, Geeza, Jiza''; , , ' ) is the third-largest city in Egypt by area after Cairo and Alexandria; and fourth-largest city in Africa by population after Kinshasa, Lagos, and Cairo. It is the capital of ...
, before being divided in 1997 into the districts of
Agouza
Agouza () is one of nine municipal districts that form Giza city, which is part of the Greater Cairo metropolis, on the western bank of the river Nile. It is situated between 6th October Bridge and 15 May Bridge and south of Imbaba. Most of it ...
(covers most of the district) and
Dokki
Dokki ( , is one of nine districts that make up Giza city, which is part of Greater Cairo, in Egypt. Dokki is situated on the western bank of the Nile, directly across from Downtown Cairo. It is a vital residential and commercial district wi ...
(Covers half of the district). Al-Mohandessin in Arabic literally means ''the engineers'', after one of the sub-districts that was sold to the Engineers' Syndicate cooperative, and becoming the
colloquial
Colloquialism (also called ''colloquial language'', ''colloquial speech'', ''everyday language'', or ''general parlance'') is the linguistic style used for casual and informal communication. It is the most common form of speech in conversation amo ...
name for most of the Agouza side.
History
Mohandessin used to be a mostly royal and state-owned agricultural estate held under ''
waqf
A (; , plural ), also called a (, plural or ), or ''mortmain'' property, is an Alienation (property law), inalienable charitable financial endowment, endowment under Sharia, Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot ...
'' (endowment) until the early 20th Century with villages, such as
Mit Okba, and ''
'izbas'' (hamlets) such as al-Hutiyya, and 'Awlad Allam. From the 1930s the
Ministry of Awqaf, that owned the land, had piloted plans to turn the estates into a new suburban district of Cairo as
Dokki
Dokki ( , is one of nine districts that make up Giza city, which is part of Greater Cairo, in Egypt. Dokki is situated on the western bank of the Nile, directly across from Downtown Cairo. It is a vital residential and commercial district wi ...
to its south flourished. In 1948, its chief architect
Mahmoud Riad set out the final plan of Madinat al-Awqaf, with plots being advertised for sale that year. The new district was subdivided into a number of large plots sold at subsidised prices - after the
July 1952 Revolution - to twenty
housing cooperative
A housing cooperative, or housing co-op, is a legal entity which owns real estate consisting of one or more residential buildings. The entity is usually a cooperative or a corporation and constitutes a form of housing tenure. Typically hou ...
s representing professional syndicates with over two thousand members, including those set up for the military, navy, police, judges, medical doctors (Aṭibbā’), radio and television (Madinat al-'ilam), journalists (Ṣaḥafiyyīn), teachers (Mu‘allimīn), and engineers (Madinat al-Mohandessin).
Large land plots of 500 to 1,000 square meters were sold after a 30 percent discount, which the Awqaf bore, at
LE 2–3 per square meter, paid off over fifteen years without interest, while members of the cooperatives were able to access soft loans to build at 3 percent interest.
Today

Today we know the area simply as Mohandiseen based on the Engineers’ City cooperative housing sub-district planned and built by leading architects of the time,
while administratively it forms most of the
Agouza
Agouza () is one of nine municipal districts that form Giza city, which is part of the Greater Cairo metropolis, on the western bank of the river Nile. It is situated between 6th October Bridge and 15 May Bridge and south of Imbaba. Most of it ...
and part of the
Dokki
Dokki ( , is one of nine districts that make up Giza city, which is part of Greater Cairo, in Egypt. Dokki is situated on the western bank of the Nile, directly across from Downtown Cairo. It is a vital residential and commercial district wi ...
, districts.
A major street that is intersecting the neighborhood called ''Gam'et el Duwal el Arabya'' (
Arab League
The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...
Blvd.).
The main shopping area in Mohandiseen is called Sour Nadi el Zamalik, which is a magnetic location for Arab Tourists that visit Cairo in the summer and on vacations. Also a new state of the art mall in Shehab street was constructed and currently operating, it is called Platinum Mall.
Several sporting clubs are also to found there, including
Tersana,
El Zamalek, and The Shooting Club (or The Hunting Club, Nadi 'L Seid).
There are also over 20 hospitals in the neighborhood with the main one being Al Salam hospital on the main road.
Mohandiseen, is considered to be one of the most prestigious and expensive areas in Greater Giza.
Economy
The head office of
Ezz Steel is in Mohandiseen.
[Contact Information]
" Ezz Steel. Retrieved on 7 May 2013. "10 Shehab Street Mohandessin Cairo Egypt"
Lifestyle
Although Mohandessin does not have as much monuments and
historical
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some theorists categ ...
buildings as other districts in
Giza
Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah, Gizeh, Geeza, Jiza''; , , ' ) is the third-largest city in Egypt by area after Cairo and Alexandria; and fourth-largest city in Africa by population after Kinshasa, Lagos, and Cairo. It is the capital of ...
, it enjoys being a leading district in shops, restaurants and cafés. Most international
franchises
Franchise may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Media franchise, a collection of related creative works, such as films, video games, books, etc., particularly in North American usage
* "Franchise" (short story), a 1955 short story ...
, which opened in Egypt, with over 200 stores operating 18 hours a day. There are several cinemas in Mohandiseen catering to the district's population.
The
Arab League
The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...
Boulevard, located in central Mohandessin is considered Giza's notable
red-light district
A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex industry, sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light district ...
along with Haram avenue, both are considered main attractions for tourists.
Mohandessin is home to many foreign
embassies
A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes a ...
in Egypt.
Since 2014, Mohandessin also hosts
Cairo Contemporary Dance Center Cairo Contemporary Dance Center (CCDC) is an independent space for contemporary dance in Egypt. It’s the first contemporary dance school in Africa and the Middle East, offering a 3-year full-time professional training program for young dancers, ch ...
, an independent space for
contemporary dance
Contemporary dance is a genre of Concert dance, dance performance that developed during the mid-twentieth century and has since grown to become one of the dominant genres for formally trained dancers throughout the world, with particularly stron ...
in Egypt, hosting the first Contemporary Dance school in Africa and the
Arab world
The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...
.
When it comes to Religion & Spirituality, Mohandessin hosts a diverse population which required several
Mosque
A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard.
Originally, mosques were si ...
s and
Churches, yet the majority of the residents adopt Islam, with several important mosques located there, such as Chazliya Mosque, and Mostafa Mahmoud Mosque, as well as Tarik Ibn-Al Walid Mosque.
Yet in Major Celebrations, the rich residents of Mohandesin tend to pray in the Shooting Club Mosque, while the surrounding poorer areas of Mohandesin, pray in the Larger Mostafa Mahmoud Mosque.
Embassies
There are a number of embassies in Mohandiseen:
* Burundi
* Cameroon
* Central African Republic
* Equatorial Guinea
* Eritrea
* Qatar
Notable people
Notable people that were born or lived there:
*
Amr Moussa
Amr Moussa (, , Amr Muhammad Moussa; born 3 October 1936) is an Egyptian politician and diplomat who was the Secretary General of the Arab League, Secretary-General of the Arab League, a 22-member forum representing Arab World, Arab states, from ...
(born 1936), Former Secretary-General of the
Arab League
The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...
.
*
Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha (, ; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. In awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy described him as a writer "who, through wo ...
(1911–2006),
Nobel Prize in Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...
Laureate
In English, the word laureate has come to signify eminence or association with literary awards or Military awards and decorations, military glory. It is also used for recipients of the Nobel Prize, the Gandhi Peace Award, the Student Peace Pri ...
.
*
Adel Emam
Adel Mohammed Emam (; born on 17 May 1940), is an Egyptians, Egyptian Cinema of Egypt, film, Television in Egypt, television, and Egyptian Theatre, stage actor, known for his extensive career with over 150 artistic works, including films, plays, a ...
(born 1940), Prominent Arab actor.
*
Atef Ebeid (born 1932), Former Egyptian
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
.
*
Ahmad Zaki (1949–2005), Prominent Egyptian actor.
*
Amr Khalid (born 1967), Islamic
Preacher
A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who Open-air preaching, preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach com ...
, ranked 6th most influential intellectual in the world by
Prospect magazine
''Prospect'' is a monthly British general-interest magazine, specialising in politics, economics and current affairs. Topics covered include British and other European, as well as US politics, social issues, art, literature, cinema, science, th ...
*
Bassem Youssef (born 1974), Television host
*
Habib El Adly (1938–2011), The Former Minister of Interior.
*
Hazem Salah Abu Ismail
Hazem Salah Abu Ismail (born 16 June 1961) is an Egyptian lawyer, Islamic preacher and politician who ran in the 2012 Egyptian presidential election and founded the Flag Party.
Abu Ismail was born in Giza in 1961 and graduated with a law degree ...
(born 1961), Prominent Islamist Politician, and Sheikh.
*
Ali Salem (1936–2015), Playwright, author, and political commentator.
References
External links
*
{{Districts of Cairo
Districts of Giza