Quartier Grec: a town within the town

The establishment of the “Quartier Grec” (“Greek quarter”) at Siatby in Alexandria took place in 1882, immediately after the nationalist revolution of Arabi, which failed and led to English rule in Egypt. The Alexandrian Greek community was the third in size, following the English and Italian ones. The creation of the Quartier Grec denotes the high degree of internal cohesion and distinction of the Greek colony in Alexandria, especially of its richest leading elite. In that multicultural society of Egypt, the demographic functioning of the Greeks followed the European model. In the same time, their functioning on the economic, political and social level was exemplary. One of the most remarkable accomplishments of the Greeks in Alexandria concerned social solidarity and care. Here, besides traditional practices, they introduced a social policy in the areas of health, education and benefaction in the spirit of modernity. What is more, their relations with the Muslim Charity Brotherhood manifest not only their increased social sensitivity for all social spheres, but also the excellent level of their integration in the social and religious environment of Egypt.