A statue of nationalist leader Saad Zaghloul Pasha (1858-1927) stands in a square in Zamalek. Just a stone’s throw away behind him is a garden that celebrates poetry and liberty.
People of all ages seated on benches chat under the trees. A child is behind a tree, playing hide and seek while his friends look for him. Some are sitting in the cafeteria drinking hot and cold drinks. A few metres away, a family is sprawled on a sheet on the grass as they tuck into a delicious feast.
Such humble pastimes and mealtimes occur under the gaze of Egypt’s great and the good, whose busts and statues meet, although they never encountered each other in life, in one place: the Horreya (Liberty) Garden.
Welcoming visitors is the seated statue of the Prince of Poets, Ahmed Shawqi (1868-1932) holding a flower in his right hand on his left knee and looking as if he is waiting for inspiration, perhaps for a verse drama, another contribution to modern Arabic literature.
On the left of the entrance is a bust for Indian nationalist Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), who campaigned for India’s independence from British rule. His eyes are closed as if in meditation.
The walkways take the visitor everywhere in the garden with its lawns and flower beds. Here is a cycad, a symmetrical plant, crowned with shiny, dark green leaves on a thick, shaggy trunk.
Hibiscus plants are in bloom everywhere with their scarlet and yellow trumpet-shaped five-petalled flowers. Acacias with their yellow flowers run parallel to the garden fence.
In the middle of the garden is the seated statue of the Poet of the Nile, Egyptian poet Hafez Ibrahim (1871-1932). His work treated themes of poverty and foreign occupation.
Not far from this poet stands General Abdel-Moneim Riad (1919-1969), Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces, who was killed along with several of his aides in an Israeli mortar attack on 9 March 1969, which is commemorated in Egypt as Martyrs’ Day.
Busts of heroes from history, who brought positive change to their countries and liberated their peoples, are arranged on granite plinths on the right side of the garden.
Of them is the bust of Mexican Priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (1753-1811), Father of the Mexican nation and leader of the War of Independence from Spain.
Ecuador’s Eloy Alfaro (1842-1912) is remembered here for the Liberal Revolution of 1895 and his 30-year struggle against conservatism. Likewise is Francisco de Paula Santander (1792-1840), who joined Simon Bolivar to end Spain’s colonial rule in South America. Santander was later known as the Man of the Laws.
In 2003, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Cuba’s José Marti Perez (1853-1895), the Cubans gifted the bust of their hero to the Egyptians. Perez was a national hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. Through his writings and political activity, he became a symbol of Cuba’s bid for independence from Spain in the 19th Century.
Russian poet Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) looks to his left and his arms are folded is a poignant example of sculpture. He could be waiting for a visitor to take a photo of him.
Islamic Ideologue Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1839-1897), one of the founders of Islamic Modernism during the late 19th century, is also remembered here.
The Horeyya Garden was founded in 1876 during the reign of Khedive Ismail (1863-1879). At one time it was one of the largest gardens in Egypt, but over the years, the area has shrunk as parts were taken by the Cairo Club, the Mahmoud Mokhtar Museum and Gezira Sheraton Hotel.
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