Sidi Bishr

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Sidi Bishr
سيدي بشر
Sidi Bishr, 2015
Sidi Bishr, 2015
Sidi Bishr is located in Egypt
Sidi Bishr
Sidi Bishr
Location in Egypt
Coordinates: 31°15′07″N 29°59′40″E / 31.252066°N 29.994464°E / 31.252066; 29.994464Coordinates: 31°15′07″N 29°59′40″E / 31.252066°N 29.994464°E / 31.252066; 29.994464
Country  Egypt
Governorate Alexandria
Time zone EST (UTC+2)

Sidi Bishr (Arabic: سيدي بشر‎‎) is a neighborhood in the Montaza District of Alexandria, Egypt. Established as a summering site by the Egyptian middle class before the Revolution of 1952, it has since become one of the largest neighborhoods of the city.[1]

Overview[edit]

The Coptic Orthodox Church of Saint Mark and Pope Peter—known locally as the Church of the Two Saints—located in Sidi Bishr, was the target of the 2011 Alexandria bombing on 1 January 2011; formerly suspected to be the work of terrorist group the Army of Islam, the Chief Prosecutor of Egypt has since accused the Interior Ministry of carrying out the bombing.[2]

On February 10, 2015, the police headquarters of Montaza District was the scene of five bombs which exploded, injuring many civilians. Years after the Revolution of 2011, Muslim Brotherhood continue to respond to Morsi's overthrow and to the crackdown on members of their organization.[3]

History[edit]

During World War I, there was an interment camp at Sidi Bishr, and Manwel Dimech was imprisoned there.[4] During the war it was also the scene where the Mediterranean Forces camped and trained and occasionally enjoyed the waters of Sidi Bishr, where the coast wasn't so rocky.[5]

In 1928, Sidi Bishr "was a picturesque place on the edge of the desert" and a decade later had been transformed with the extension of Cornish Road. Then people came from around the world to visit Alexandria's Sidi Bishr's three beaches, but especially the beach called Sidi Bishr 2, making it cosmopolitan and a fashionable place to be.[6] Exactly as depicted in Justine, a novel by Lawrence Durrell, the beach at Sidi Bishr was a place where beautiful women from all over the world donned bikinis but it's no longer this way, as since the Egyptian revolution of 1952,[7] women no longer wear bathing suits to public Egyptian beaches.[8][9]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Amin, Galal (2000). Whatever Happened to the Egyptians? Changes in Egyptian Society from 1950 to the Present. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press. ISBN 977-424-559-8. 
  2. ^ Ismail, Farrag (February 7, 2011). "Ex-minister suspected behind Alex church bombing". Al Arabiya News. 
  3. ^ "Bombs wound 10 civilians in Egypt's Alexandria". Daily Mail (AFP). February 10, 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2016. 
  4. ^ Zarb-Dimech, Anthony (November 22, 2009). "The Prisoner of war camps in Egypt (1914-1921) – An album by Juann Mamo - The Malta Independent". Malta Independent. 
  5. ^ Spring, F.G. (March 1, 2009). The History of the 6th (Service) Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment 1914 - 1919. Lulu. ISBN 9780955991417. Retrieved 14 November 2016. 
  6. ^ Hagg, Michael (2008). Vintage Alexandria: Photographs of the City, 1860-1960. American Univ in Cairo Press. ISBN 9789774161926. 
  7. ^ "Arab Unity: Nasser's Revolution". Aljazeera. June 20, 2008. Retrieved 14 November 2016. 
  8. ^ Lagnado, Lucette (July 19, 2013). "Lawrence Durrell's 'Justine': Missing Alexandria". Wall Street Journal. 
  9. ^ Athanasiadis, Iason (January 23, 2014). "Alexandria, once a glamorous seaside resort, now a crumbling city". The National AE. Retrieved 14 November 2016.