Downtown DistrictAlexandria Governorate
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Squares & streetsFouad Street — the Canopic Way

Squares & streetsAncient Alexandria

Fouad Street — the Canopic Way

Following the line of the ancient Canopic Way for much of its length, Fouad Street brings together layers of Alexandria’s architecture and cultural life.

Ancient Alexandria
331 BC — the Canopic Way
Opening hours
Public street, open all hours
Tickets
Free
Administrative section
El Attarin — Bab Sharqi
Open in maps(External link)Its place in time

Image credits

What sets it apart

A straight axis lined with 1920s Italianate façades — the echo of an ancient avenue with a double colonnade

6 documented memories

Its place in time

Ancient Alexandria · 331 BC – 7th century AD

The city of Alexander, the Ptolemies and then Rome: its streets laid on a grid crossed by the Canopic Way, and at Kom El Dikka Rome left the only Roman theatre (odeon) uncovered in Egypt.

  1. Fouad Street — the Canopic Way331 BC — the Canopic Way
  2. Roman Theatre at Kom El DikkaRoman era, most likely 4th century — uncovered in 1964
  3. Shallalat GardensOn the line of the 9th-century wall, under Ibn Tulun
  4. Remains of the Alexandria City Wall9th century — under Ibn Tulun
  5. Misr Railway StationThe railway from the 1850s — present building 1927
  6. Mahatet El Raml & Saad Zaghloul SquareFrom 1863 — the Ramleh line’s terminus
  7. The Alexandria Tram1863
  8. Eliyahu Hanavi SynagogueRebuilt in the 19th century — foundation plaque dated 1881
  9. Graeco-Roman Museum1892
  10. The Statue of Nubar PashaUnveiled in 1904, according to a museum record
  11. The Windsor Palace Hotel1906, by the hotel’s own account
  12. Cavafy MuseumCavafy’s home from 1907 to 1933
  13. The Lycée Al-Horreya1909–1910 — the Shatby building from 1913
  14. Sayed Darwish Theatre — Alexandria Opera House1921 — the Mohamed Ali Theatre
  15. Alexandria National MuseumLate-1920s palace — museum since 2003
  16. The Cecil Hotel1929
  17. Museum of Fine Arts1954
  18. Bibliotheca Alexandrina2002
  • Ancient Alexandria331 BC – 7th century AD
  • The Islamic centuries7th century – 1805
  • The Mohamed Ali revival1805 – 1860
  • The cosmopolitan city1860 – 1950
  • Contemporary Alexandria1950 – today
The semicircular stone tiers of the Roman amphitheatre at Kom El Dikka
After it in timeRoman Theatre at Kom El DikkaRoman era, most likely 4th century — uncovered in 1964

Highlights

  • 1The original Canopic Way alignment
  • 2Italianate façades of the 1920s
  • 3The Sayed Darwish Theatre and the National Museum

The story

  1. The Canopic Way ran east–west through the grid of Ptolemaic Alexandria as the old city’s principal artery. Fouad Street follows its line for much of its length; in 1922 E. M. Forster called it, despite its modern appearance, the most ancient street in the city.

  2. Along it stand façades that a 2026 architecture feature describes as mainly Italianate and of the 1920s, alongside the Sayed Darwish Theatre, the Alexandria National Museum, historic shrines, and the Royal cinema on a passage just off the street.

  3. A walk along the street brings its façades and cultural landmarks into view. It runs east from Sherif Pasha Street to Shallalat Gardens, at the site of the old Rosetta Gate; Mahatet El Raml lies to its north and Kom El Dikka just to its south.

Memories of the place

Every memory is taken from a published, documented source.

  1. 331 BC

    Alexander the Great founded the city and ordered his architect Dinocrates to build it.

  2. Ptolemaic–Roman period

    The Canopic street was one of two very broad main streets crossing at right angles. According to tradition, the Soma, Alexander’s burial place, stood where it crossed the street that today’s Nabi Daniel Street follows, close to the mosque.

  3. Roman period

    The main axis ran some five kilometres from the Sun Gate in the east to the Moon Gate in the west, lined with porticoes.

  4. Late 19th century

    The street was commonly called Rue de la Porte de Rosette (sometimes Bab Sharqi street), after the eastern gate and the link with Rosetta; the gate led to the Nile valley, the capital and the pilgrimage road.

  5. c. 1920

    The street was named after Fouad I, who ruled Egypt as sultan from 1917 and as king from 1922; people still call it Fouad Street.

  6. After 1952

    At a date that is hard to fix, probably after the 1952 revolution, the street was renamed El-Horreya (“Freedom”); in 1970 it was renamed after Gamal Abdel Nasser at his death.

Around it

© OpenStreetMap

Nearby landmarks

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