Seen in Cairo's Heliopolis : A Mid-Century Modern Villa

A mid-century modern villa in Cairo

One of my favorite villas in Cairo’s Heliopolis is this Mid-Century Modern villa in El-Oroba street.

It is one of the unique mid-century modern style buildings in El-Orba street which hosts a wonderful collection of villas and palaces.

According to my mom, this design was so popular and was found in several different areas like in Dokki and Maadi in the old days.

Many villas and palaces were demolished in Heliopolis to be replaced with big towering residential buildings.
Hopefully, this building survives this carnage 

Kodak Agfa presents : A short visit to 2017 to Fayoum's Lake Qarun

Kodak Agfa is back once again in 2020.

We are in 2020 but this post goes back a short visit to the amazing and beautiful Fayoum governorate in 2017.

It is like a good thing to remember those warm days in our very cold night in Cairo right now.

Hopefully, it will be the first in a series for posts and photos published for the first time on Egyptian Chronicles about this beautiful place in Egypt this month.

Fayoum is like one of Egypt’s best-kept secret with its rich history as well as its amazing natural landscape that takes your breath away and the kindness of its people that capture your heart.

I will be scratching the surface in this post because here I am digging the history of Egypt probably from the time when dinosaurs roamed this land.

It had been known to the Egyptians for decades as the land of Lake Qarun or as known in Greek Lake Moeris and its famous norias whether in Fayoum city itself or its villages.

A boat in Lake Qarun

A protected area since 2012,  the-202-square-km Lake Qarun is one of Egypt’s largest natural lakes. Its depth is 43 meters below the sea-level.
It is also one of the oldest lakes in the country and the region too.
It goes back to prehistory and during then it was much bigger and wider covering at least 1,2700 square km.
By the time, it has shrunken.

Lake Qarun from the West

Sultan Qaboos , Gulfs’ long-serving ruler passes away “‘Updated”

Omani TV has declared from shot time ago that Qaboos bin Said Al Said, the Sultan of Oman has passed away after suffering from illness.
There will be a 40-days of National mourning in the country.

Sultan Qaboos of Oman

I do not recall Arab media speaking about his illness directly but it seems that the man surfed from cancer of the colon since 2015.
Sultan Qaboos returned from Belgium after treatment.

The Royal palace claimed on 29 December 2019 that it was a successful trip and he was fine but I guess we know that was not true.
It was said that he returned back to make arrangement of succession.

التلفزيون العماني يعلن وفاة السلطان قابوس بن سعيد بن تيمور والحداد لمدة أربعين يوما pic.twitter.com/jYGqZ5Xgsq

— ZaidBenjamin (@ZaidBenjamin5) January 11, 2020

Rumors are already spreading online that he passed away earlier but the Omani authorities had to keep a secret because of all the tension in the region.

That time of the year in St.Catherine

All the world knows that it does not snow in Egypt but like everything in this world, nothing appears like what it seems.
It snows in Egypt in a specific place every year.
It snows at Saint Catherine Mount, Egypt’s highest mount in Sinai
The photos and video from there are beautiful.
The photos are beautiful and they went viral online as expected.

The entrance of Saint Catherine mount protectorate Management unit at 6:27 AM on Friday
"South Sinai antiquities Region"

A tree cover in the snow at Saint Catherine on Friday  "Mountain Rose"

El-Milga region in Saint Catherine "Mountain Rose"

Merry Orthodox Christmas everybody especially in Egypt

Merry Orthodox Christmas to all people around the globe celebrating Christmas tonight according to Orthodox Church calendar especially in Egypt from Coptic Orthodox Christians.
The beautiful mural below depicting the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus is from the famous and unique Red Monastery in Sohag.

The Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus Egyptian Coptic Byzantine 

The photo is by the talented and award-winning Egyptian photographer Roger Anis from Mada Masr’s report of this ancient beautiful hidden gem and how it is Egypt’s last Byzantine monument in Upper Egypt by Karoline Kamel.

Merry Christmas from Egyptian Chronicles.  

And a second Ramy wins a golden globe

Ok Hollywood watch it for Egyptian-American men called Ramy because they got something for the Golden Globes
American of Egyptian origin comedian Ramy Youssef has just won the Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series  Musical or Comedy in the Golden Globe awards 2020.

Congratulations to Ramy Youssef (@ramy) - Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy - Ramy. - #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/idWiAoA3Kk

— Golden Globe Awards (@goldenglobes) January 6, 2020

He won it for his role in Hulu’s comedy TV series Ramy that was aired in 2019.

Ramy Youssef "NBC"

Here the moment he got the award and man I love how Longa 79 of Egyptian veteran and musical genius of the 1970s and 1980s Hany Shenouda was played in the Golden Globe !!! “It is associated with football than with comedies or Golden Globes for my generation”

These are some of the sites important to Iranian culture

Just as the Iranian government was preparing for Qassim Soleimani’s funeral as well as the perfect reaction from its point of view following his assassination by US drones on Friday, current US President Donald Trump gave it another gift.

He provoked the Iranian people even those opposing the Iranian regime living in exile with his tweets about targeting 52 important sites to Iran and Iranian culture if the Iranian regime dared to target American assets late Saturday.

....targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2020

It is unclear which sites he meant but saying that “They are very high-level & important to Iran & Iranian culture” means they were speaking about cultural and religious sites important to the Iranian culture.

There is a fear that he meant the Shiia holy sites in Iran specifically in Qom while others fear that he meant historical sites in Iran in a complete violation of international laws that criminalize the deliberate destruction of monumental sites in armed conflicts.

ًWhen Iranian authorities decided to raise the Red war flag for the first time in recorded history on Saturday
over the Jamkaran mosque in the Shiia holy city Qom 

If Trump orders the attack on Shiia holy sites in Iran if Iran avenges its general and its will avenge sooner or later, it will be a holy war for Shiia Muslims around the globe. There are about 11 holy sites in Iran for Shiia Muslims according to my knowledge.