El Mogamma: Administrative Complex, Tahrir Square (Cairo)
Egypt /
Kairo /
Cairo /
Tahrir Square ميدان التحرير
World
/ Egypt
/ Kairo
/ Cairo
, 2 km from center (القاهرة)
World / Egypt
national government / government, administrative building
El-Mogamma: National government Administrative Complex, forming the south side of Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo. It is a huge and massive curved building, in the Soviet socialist style as it was given as a gift to the last Egyptian monarchy by the Soviet Union. The Mogamma building began construction in 1950, and was completed in 1952, just before the Egypt independence revolution and becoming a republic.
The Mogamma is the center of many government bureaucracies "pushing much paper" for a multitude of necessary permits, applications, approvals, authorized documents, visas, etc. for Egyptian citizens and foreigners alike. This is where foreigner tourists must to go to extend visas. It has a reputation for laborious inefficiency that frustrates many needing services within it.
The Mogamma is periodically rumored to be closed, to be replaced by a new administrative center with computers instead of the double-thick ledgers in use here. As of 2011 it remains in operation, and has been seen worldwide as a backdrop to views of the pro-democracy protest demonstrations in adjacent Tahrir Square.
Mogamma anecdotes:
Services could take so long (and the lines could be even longer) that there is concession service from uniformed waiters in the hallways. A wonderfully rich and convoluted experience, but not for the faint of heart, claustrophobic or those short on time or patience.
*Washington Post story (www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/2...
*Egyptian tourism page (www.touregypt.net/featurestories/mugamma.htm).
The Mogamma is the center of many government bureaucracies "pushing much paper" for a multitude of necessary permits, applications, approvals, authorized documents, visas, etc. for Egyptian citizens and foreigners alike. This is where foreigner tourists must to go to extend visas. It has a reputation for laborious inefficiency that frustrates many needing services within it.
The Mogamma is periodically rumored to be closed, to be replaced by a new administrative center with computers instead of the double-thick ledgers in use here. As of 2011 it remains in operation, and has been seen worldwide as a backdrop to views of the pro-democracy protest demonstrations in adjacent Tahrir Square.
Mogamma anecdotes:
Services could take so long (and the lines could be even longer) that there is concession service from uniformed waiters in the hallways. A wonderfully rich and convoluted experience, but not for the faint of heart, claustrophobic or those short on time or patience.
*Washington Post story (www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/2...
*Egyptian tourism page (www.touregypt.net/featurestories/mugamma.htm).
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mogamma
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 30°2'32"N 31°14'8"E
- Cairo International Conferences 7.3 km
- AlManara 15 km
- Helnan Dream Hotel 19 km
- The Grey Mall - HDP 27 km
- Conference center 41 km
- East Hub Mall 42 km
- Citadel Commercial Complex 49 km
- Clock Towers 51 km
- مبنى ادارة الجامعة 219 km
- Administrative Building 318 km
- Qasr El Nile 0.3 km
- Bab Al-Lauq 0.4 km
- Garden City 0.8 km
- Abdeen 1 km
- Down Town 1.1 km
- The Garden City 1.1 km
- Abdeen 1.2 km
- Maspiro Triangle 1.3 km
- Bolaak AboElelaa 2.2 km
- Greater Cairo 13 km
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