The art Arabic calligraphy —during the of Muhammed Ali’s dynasty (1805- 1952)— is considered a rich history subject; it includes all the areas of human creation, also it can be used to understand the Egyptian history itself. This paper will demonstrate the history of this art starting from the Ottoman invasion to Egypt, that represents an early historic background of Mouhamed Ali’s reign, and how this invasion affected the Egyptian crafts, and how it was reflected on types of the Arabic calligraphy in Egypt during this period. That was done by bringing a big number of Turkish and Persian calligraphers such as Mirza Sinclakh Khorasani, Abdul Ghaffar Beda Khaoray, Hassan Wafaey and other important calligraphers. Furthermore, the paper will discuss the architectural features during Muhammed Ali’s reign, the institutions that gave attention to Arabic calligraphy such as Kiswah factory in Khrnfesh and Bulaq press. In fact, Muhammed Ali successors witnessed two parallel and simultaneously trends that affected on the Arabic calligraphy profoundly, the first; was the western trend that extended starting from the reign of Khedive Ismail –who wanted to make Egypt a piece of Europe- till Abbass Helmy II. While the second trend was the revival and renewal of Islamic art and architecture especially during the reign of Abbass Helmy II (1892- 1914), where the attention was drawn towards the Arabic and Islamic architecture. While the intersection between the two trends was obvious in mosques, Sabils, tombs, royal palaces in addition to museums established during this period. Egypt attracted many great calligraphers at that time, such as Abdallah Zohdi, Abdelkereem Fayeq Elmolawey, Mohamed Amin Zohdi, and Ibrahim Elboghdady. In addition to the calligraphers of the Egy ...
Conference Hall GRANSHANCairo2016 christina.resch@kochan.de