MARGINALIA
The Near-Destruction of Giza
Jean-Daniel Stanley
Enter the Frenchman
To execute his civil improvements, Muhammad 'Ali depended on
Egyptian as well as foreign specialists, particularly French and
English engineers. He eventually sought the counsel of French-born
Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds, who at the age of 18
first visited Egypt in 1817. Linant had no formal training, but he
was placed in charge of public works in Upper Egypt in 1831. Only a
few years later, in 1837, he became chief engineer of all such
projects in the country. The key to his success was reliable and
speedy execution of diverse assignments. During the course of many
years of service in Egypt, Linant gained the trust of Muhammad 'Ali
and eventually became a member of the viceroy's privileged advisory
council. He was appointed Minister of Public Works in 1869, retired
shortly after, received the grand title of pasha in 1873 and died in
Cairo in 1883. The engineer described the projects and personalities
of his professional tenure in a hefty memoir published during
1872-1873. In this summary volume, he described how the viceroy
commissioned many kinds of construction projects, including Nile
waterways, irrigation canals, port and coastal structures, bridges
and roads, railroads, wells and changes to Cairo's city plan. Not
the least of Linant's great accomplishments during nearly 40 years
of service was his role in building the Suez Canal.
If ever there was a time and place for one engineer to help
modernize a nation, it was mid-19th-century Egypt. Linant's position
of key responsibility enabled him to compile a particularly valuable
account of the major engineering tasks with which he was involved,
including the construction of barrages (dams) that regulated the
flow of the Nile River for irrigation. Had the friendship between
Linant and Muhammad 'Ali not been so close and long-lived,
historians might be skeptical of the engineer's account of the
viceroy's wish to have the pyramids dismantled. Although Linant does
not provide the exact date of the pyramid saga in his
Mémoires, he notes that Muhammad 'Ali had already
decided to build barrages on the Lower Nile. This time probably
corresponds to late 1833, when laborers began working at a barrage
site in the delta north of Cairo. The viceroy expressed his desire
to speed barrage construction by dismantling the pyramids to provide
a large supply of pre-cut blocks. Linant tells us that the autocrat
and his advisors considered the three largest structures for
demolition, and they discussed various schemes for stone-by-stone
removal or destruction by explosives. To highlight the seriousness
of the plan and the narrowness of its defeat, Linant described
Muhammed 'Ali and his normal way of proceeding with a plan. The
headstrong ruler used a "full speed ahead" approach that
demanded the complete dedication of his councilors and engineers.
Linant wrote: "En Égypte on veut que les choses une
fois decidées se fassent comme par enchantement;...et
tout doit être sacrifié à cela."
In other words, once in motion, all means should be undertaken and
no obstacle should interfere with, or delay, a project.
» Post Comment