RESEARCH

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The topic of this reader is highly interdisciplinary and highly controversial. The hammam, this urban convivial space, is found from Morocco all the way down the Silk road and up to the small village of Bo Ai in the Chinese province of Henan: Every region, every country, every urban neighbourhood will give it special features, and yet it is part of the collective memory of dwellers and scientists throughout the Muslim world. This reader contains ideas and analysis that further promote the awareness for the value of the hammam; and in the best case, it may be a contribution for the revival of this great cultural attainment.

As time goes on, the number of public bathhouses (hammams) is decreasing in Cairo, which might lead to the disappearance of an important popular heritage that used to contribute to different aspects of the city life. This paper provides an understanding of some of the factors that threaten the heritage of hamm!ms, while pointing out to two major factors that might look different in ideology but form a strong threat to the survival of the hammam folklore. These are “Modernization” and “Islamic Fundamentalism”. The paper reviews theories in anthropology concerned with the process of “production” and “reproduction” of folklore in general and the traditional public bath in particular. Based on recent field studies that recorded changes in the function of two currently operating historic hammams in Cairo, Hammam al-malatil" (Margoush) in Nahassin quarter and Hammam Bab al-Bahr in Bab al-Shareyah quarter, both tangible and non-tangible dimensions of heritage are examined. Finally, the paper discusses future directions in the reproduction of hamm!m folklore.

ArcheoURB is a cooperation project financed by the State and the Italian Regions as part of the Mediterranean Framework Program Agreement, Line 2.4. Dialogue and Culture. Within the Diarcheo Integrated Project, the International Foundation for Higher Architecture Studies, as the Implementing Body of the Campania Region, worked on the archeoURB sub-project - The valorisation of the "archaeological park" as a tool for urban and territorial redevelopment. In collaboration with the Cadi Ayyad University of Marrakech and Cairo University, three pilot projects were created for the Sharij Labgar area in Morocco, for the Bahariya oasis in Egypt and for the Baia monumental complex in Italy. The development of the three projects - in their not only geographical diversity - has allowed us to develop a general reflection on tools and methods for intervention on archaeological areas in contemporary territorial and urban realities, for the purposes of their valorisation. Presentation by Giuseppe De Mita. Introduction by Uberto Siola.

Scenography of the Royal Carriages Museum