Designing for the princes: Lasciac’s early projects for the Khedival dynasty (1895-1907)

Mercedes Volait (1)

1 InVisu - L'information visuelle et textuelle en histoire de l'art : nouveaux terrains, corpus, outils

From 1895 on, Slovenian architect Anton Lasciac (1856-1946) received significant commissions from members of the Egyptian ruling family, starting with work for prince Saïd Halim, who seemingly introduced him to other future patrons. Through these connections, the young architect became involved in particular with two major real estate developments in downtown Cairo, the Djelal estate and Halim lands. He also produced designs for princes Djemil Toussoun and Ibrahim Hilmi. Lasciac’s work can be partially documented through drawings and photographs kept in public and private archives, both in Egypt and in Europe. The visual material offers unusual insights on the tastes and lifestyles of affluent Ottoman households in fin-de-siècle Egypt. Providing concrete images of their residences and domesticity, the photographs and drawings of Lasciac’s buildings and projects illustrate the ways in which European aesthetics were emulated but simultaneously reworked to accommodate the imperatives of Ottoman high culture.

Mots clés: Architecture; Le Caire; Anton Lasciac; Culture visuelle et matérielle; Période tardo-ottomane

Domaines: Art et histoire de l'art

Mercedes Volait. Designing for the princes: Lasciac’s early projects for the Khedival dynasty (1895-1907). Diana Barillari, Alberto Sdegno, Diego Kuzmin. Antonio Lasciac, un architetto tra Italia, Egitto e Slovenia, Società di Minerva, pp.83-92, 2020, 0392 - 0038. ⟨halshs-03250837⟩