The History and Locations of Open-Air Cinema in Egypt

Nov 16, 2025 0

Egypt has a rich history with cinema, dating back to the late 19th century. From the bustling city of Alexandria to the serene deserts of the Sinai Peninsula, open-air cinemas have offered unique cinematic experiences.

The Dawn of Cinema in Alexandria

In 1896, just months after the first screenings in Europe, films by the Lumière Brothers made their way to Egyptian audiences in Alexandria. This marked the beginning of a cinematic journey in Egypt, captivating audiences and paving the way for a thriving industry.

Before cinema, theatre had already established a presence in Alexandria. The new form of entertainment, cinema, created a stir and took the city by storm. The first screenings occurred as early as 1896 in the Toussoun Stock Exchange, which later became the prestigious Club Mohamed Ali and subsequently The Horreya Cultural Center, now known as Qasr el Ebdaa’ (Palace of Creativity).

The business was embraced by resident foreigners of Alexandria and proved extremely lucrative. Owners of café shops that served as meeting places for stock exchange activities (many popular cafés were known as borsas) were mainly Italians, Greeks and French. When local filming began, the cameras were used as projecting devices as well as for filming, and the acquisition of the novel invention proved a profitable one.

Interestingly, when cinema was introduced to other countries in the region, it was an Egyptian Jew who opened a cinema in Jerusalem called The Oracle. One of the first to combine theatre and film was the Italian Barda who transformed his Teatro Egyptien into Cinema Olympia; incidentally, he was later to write the music for Om Kalthoum’s film Wedad (Wedâd), a practice considered uncommon for the diva.

At Cinema Urbanora, owned by another Alexandrian Italian, and catering to an almost entirely Italian audience, the Maestro Grasso and his Company of Araiis Zani would play Garibaldi’s Royal Hymn and celebrate the Italian National Feast in September of every year.

Ticket Pricing and Cinema Practices

Ticket prices varied depending on target audience, niche of clientele and facilities. At first cinemas charged up to five piasters for the exclusivity and the novelty of the service; soon it was to drop to three and two, charging even less for children. First class tickets offered the benefit of a comfortable seat, whereas a third class seat aka ‘terzo’ was only a bench without a back. Cinema Metro’s ground floor less expensive seats had, however, a certain rangee x’ (X- Row) which promised a better view of the screen.

Profits were also made on the periphery of the business: Matussian Cigarettes Company offered free tickets to holders of coupons found in its cigarette boxes, and the French Chocolat Poulain made similar offers for purchase of their products. One cinema whose roof was made of porous wooden beams attracted moviegoers by renting out umbrellas for a minimal fee of a few but rewarding milliemes.

Different cinemas held different practices. In the very early days before translation was made available, a live interpreter was employed to narrate or explain the drama, depending on the case. Often, in order to please the attendance, he would undertake to comment on the action and predict coming events! Even later, a film was always preceded by actualites, or later still by the Amon Newsreel, a cartoon and scenes from a forthcoming attraction.

In the days of the monarchy, the royal anthem would be played and the audience would stand in reverence until it had ended. Entertainment during the intervals became a customized service, with every cinema offering its special services. Cinema Rio, which screened mostly Pathé productions, had a waterworks machine that was eye catching and mesmerizing to watch; Cinema Royal hosted a magician and children’s mornings offering puppet shows and marionettes.

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If a power cut came between the Alexandria audience and the film, they were known to chant in unison cima awanta, hato felousna (this cinema is a fraud, give us back our money). And the advertisement that announced that Father up a Tree (Abi fawka el shagara ) featured 54 kisses was taken seriously: viewers had great fun counting together each kiss as it came up.

Children’s birthday parties were held inside the cinemas, and the adjoining cafeterias (often run by Greeks) would do the catering of the petit pain sandwiches and little gateaux soires. So too, in the collective unconscious, are memories of lush and elegant evenings at the cinema.

Many cinemas were inaugurated and shut down only a few weeks after opening dates, often only to re-open once again, either by the same name or a new one. Often similar names are used across a disparate time line causing confusion as to inauguration dates of the different cinemas.

Alexandria Cinema Locations and Name Changes

In order to facilitate navigation through the following pages of the streets and cinemas of Alexandria, it may be useful to remember the following name changes:

Rue Rosette was changed to Rue Fouad to Tariq el Horreya or Sharia Gamal Abdel Nasser
Rue Missalla became Safia Zaghloul
Rue Mehatet el Raml or Rue de la Gare du Ramleh is presently Saad Zaghloul Street
Said Street is also known as Sharia el Ghorfa el Togariya.

As theatres (teatros) metamorphosed into projection halls and cinemas, or changed owners and management, they were often re-baptized.

Examples of Cinemas in Alexandria

Here are a few examples of cinemas in Alexandria:

The Cordahi complex was built in 1921 on Rue Fouad.
The Mohamed Ali Theatre was built in 1929, and it was also used as a projection hall.
Cinema Oriental, inaugurated in 1925 on Rue de l’ancienne poste (Sharia el Bosta el Qadeema), became Cinema Lido then Cinema el Sharq (translation of original name Oriental).
Cinema Roy on Ramleh Station Square, changed to Cinema Ferial.

Cinema Lux: Inaugurated in: 1896-1897, Reopened 1899-1890 as part of the programme of Alhambra between Bourse Toussoun Pasha and ‘Teatro’ Alhambra, with an entrance on Rue Moharrem Bey. Location: Rue Ramleh Station, (Lieu of Cinema Strand, corner of present Saad Zaghloul St. Owners: A. Name of Projection Hall:

Cinema Strand: Owners: National Cinema Company: Moh. Technical Equipment: G. B.

Cinema Amir: Owners: Sons of C. Technical Equipment: G.B. Technical Machinery: G.B.

Cinema Alhambra: Owners: D. Technical Equipment: G.B.

Cinema Royal: Owners: Pericles M. Demetrio & Co.

Cinema Rialto: Owners:Egyptian Cinema Company: Mohamed Ali & Co. Technical Equipment: G.B. Technical Machinery: G.B.

The Enigmatic Desert Cinema of the Sinai Peninsula

A Theater in the Middle of Nowhere – Egypt’s Mysterious Lost Cinema I WhySo

Somewhere on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, nestled at the foot of a desert mountain range, sits a peculiar sight: hundreds of seats for an outdoor movie theater.

In the late 1990s, Frenchman Diynn Eadel decided to build a cinema near the southern tip of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, close to the growing tourist resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, or Sharm as it’s often called. During one of Idel’s trips to the Sinai Peninsula in the 1990s, the Frenchman decided it would be the perfect place to build an open-air cinema. He then returned to France in search of investors. A flyer from Eadel featuring the cinema states it was his childhood dream to build such a theater in the Sinai. “We’re very excited about this as it’s a first for the area,” Eadel said at the time, according to the South African photographer Jeremy Jowell, in his retelling of the meeting.

Idel’s concept involved a special screen, suitable furnishings, and about 700 wooden seats. Projection equipment was bought from a cinema in Cairo. The cinema could seat hundreds, but it never has. The cinema could imaginably star the place that premiered Lawrence of Arabia, but it never did. It’s not even that old.

Everything was set for opening night, with one small problem. Kikkas says the locals weren’t particularly keen on the whole idea and decided to discreetly sabotage the generator. A single movie was never screened.

The planned movie for that night was to be Jurassic Park, but the mountains were not fated to resonate with the roars of the mighty T-Rex. Instead, during the grand opening, the electric generator began to malfunction, resulting in a power cut. There are rumors that the malfunction was down to the local authorities who didn’t support the idea of an open-air desert cinema, or possibly the machinations of a rival businessman.

So now it sits in the middle of a desert, a random movie theater that was never used. You can still see it on Google Maps.

Discovery and Subsequent Events

The cinema remained largely forgotten until 2014 when Kaupo Kikkas published the very photos contained in this article. Estonian photographer Kaupo Kikkas recently visited the desolate location and brought back these amazing shots of a decaying dream. He shares via his blog that the theater was built not too long ago by a man from France with considerable means. After an Estonian photographer brought the site back into public view in 2014, Eadel stopped talking to the media about it, according to a filmmaker friend.

Sadly, only a few months later, an urban explorer visited this hidden gem to find that the seats had been completely leveled. In April 2018, the local authorities closed the area to tourists.

While Eadel seems to consider the cinema an aborted triumph, it still drops the jaws of visitors who zoom into the cinema on their motorbikes. Derek Cave, a British tourist on a “quad-bike” tour got an impromptu visit in 2011, spurred on by his guide. Cave described the cinema’s screen as a box of steel, rusting away in the sand.

While Jowell, the South African photojournalist, bemoaned the cinema as an example of Sinai overdevelopment, Eadel seemed to see his project as a chance to add a cinematic flavor to an area already overgrowing with chain hotel and resort umbrellas along the beaches, sprouting like mushrooms.

If you visit the site, you won’t see a movie, and there here aren’t any concessions. Take a seat.

The Secret Cinema of the Sinai Destroyed

It is with a very heavy heart that I have to share with you the sad news that the secret cinema of the Sinai has been destroyed. Noha Zayed, possibly a fellow reader of Messy Nessy Chic, recently took it upon herself to find the site.

“So we decided to find and visit “The cinema at the end of the world”. Upon arriving at the site we thought we got our coordinates wrong. The chairs were all knocked down as if on purpose. The place has been shattered, levelled and destroyed; the site disintegrated. I can’t understand the lack of appreciation for these beautiful old chairs. The wood has been left while the metal fixtures holding them together seem to be missing. It is unclear when this all took place, but I’m well aware that my article was the first to spark this cyber “renaissance” of interest in the failed cinema built in the early 2000’s. Do I feel responsible? If I wasn’t directly responsible for the loss of this unique place on earth, as a human being, I’ve certainly contributed to the loss of something else. However, perhaps more importantly so, it inspires and motivates me to seek a more pro-active role in the preservation, revival and protection of all these amazing places that I’m compelled to share with you.

Open-Air Museum at Kom El-Dikka in Alexandria

After spending three hours travelling from Cairo to Alexandria, I visited the Open-Air Museum at Kom El-Dikka in the center of the city. Kom El-Dikka neighborhood was called the Acropolis of Alexandria, acro is a Greek word means high, and the archaeologists of the Egyptian-Polish archaeological mission have done fantastic work there (the efforts of The University of Warsaw and The Supreme Council of Antiquities). They have discovered and restored antiquities and monumental architecture for decades.

For example, they discovered the ancient Roman Theatre in Alexandria in 1960, and in 2019 they discovered the ruins/remains of a residential settlement dates back to the era from the 4th century AD to the 7th century AD.

The ancient Roman Theatre (4th century AD) is one of the most famous historical landmarks in Egypt, it was hidden under a large mound of sand and rubble for centuries until the Egyptian-Polish archaeological mission discovered it in 1960. The auditorium is in the shape of a horseshoe, and the Roman graffiti greeting the winners in chariot races on the surface of some of the theatre’s seats reveal a style of celebration during the Greco-Roman period in Egypt (332 B.C- 395 AD).

There are inscriptions date back to different periods, so visitors can see the Greek numerals inscribed on some seats of the theatre, and the Byzantine symbols on the surface of some rocks (Byzantine Egypt was the late Roman period in Egypt).

Discovering ancient lecture halls nearby the Roman Theatre confirms that the theatre was used for many purposes like academic purposes which helped in enlarging the ancient academic complex.

After that, I visited the open-air museum where I saw the amazing results and the importance of another branch of archaeology, the underwater archaeology.

The monuments at the museum were submerged under the Mediterranean Sea for centuries, and pioneers like Prince Omar Tousson, Honor Frost, Kamel Abou El-Sadaat, and others, played important roles and attracted the world’s attention.

In the 1930s, Prince Omar Tousson put a major spotlight on the importance of mapping underwater sites and salvaging sunken monuments, and his efforts helped in discovering and lifting some sunken monuments.

The UNESCO has played an important role since the 1960s when it sent underwater archaeologists and divers led by Honor Frost, the iconic underwater archaeologist, to Alexandria in 1968, and Kamel Abou El-Saadat’s name, the Egyptian diver who participated in that mission, was glaring at that time because of his great efforts and discoveries.

Honor Frost received the French government medal for pioneering submarine archaeology in Egypt in 1997, this award embodied the appreciation she deserved, and Honor Frost Foundation continues her great efforts and projects.

The European Institute for Underwater Archaeology has made great discoveries, and the name of Franck Goddio, the French underwater archaeologist, spread everywhere in 2000 because he discovered the remains of Thonis-Heracleion City.

This ancient sunken city was a cosmopolitan city because its location in the west enabled it to control the entrance of Egypt through the Canopic branch which led to active trade.

In 2009, Egyptian underwater archaeologists, divers, and workmen salvaged a 9-ton granite temple pylon which was part of Queen Cleopatra’s palace complex.

The underwater site dates back to the Greco-Roman period in Egypt but many of the statues, obelisks, parts of obelisks and pylons…. that the archaeologists and diverse discovered and salvaged date back to the ancient Egyptian/Pharaonic age, because Greeks and Romans re-used them for construction purposes or for protection purposes to protect the country from attacks and invasions.

The yellow quartzite obelisk of King Seti I and the rose granite papyriform column at the open-air museum are evidence. There are holes in the upper part of the rose granite papyriform column so probably it was re-used for building purposes, and probably its original height was 6.5 meters.

The yellow quartzite obelisk of King Seti I (the ancient Egyptian king- 19th Dynasty) with three royal titularies on its sides was used for a long time because King Ramses II (King Seti I’s son) re-used it, then in a later period that obelisk was transported to Alexandria.