Surrounded by a freshly-mowed lawn and a high wall in a serene area of the Manshiyat el-Bakry neighborhood in Cairo’s Heliopolis, stands the villa that once housed the late Egyptian president and Arab nationalist icon Gamal Abdel Nasser. Just over a year ago, after years of bureaucratic haggling, delays and renovations, the two-storey villa was opened to the public after having been turned into a museum. The house, with its cream-colored exterior and modernist architectural style, is a living memory of the man, who in the eyes of many Egyptians, not only brought about a large-scale modernization of the country and the dismantling of monarchical rule, but also pushed it to the forefront of the global struggle against Western imperialism. The property, which was bought by Nasser before his Free Officer’s Movement overthrew the British-backed king in 1952, was originally a single-storey house. As the Egyptian leader gained in status and popularity, it was further extended to include a second storey. Upon entering the villa, one is immediately struck by the grandiose space of the reception hall, with its high ceiling, marble floors and large classic photographs of Nasser displayed…
