The Mogamma

Mogamma el Tahrir
The Mogamma on Tahrir Square, Cairo
General information
Town or city	Cairo
Country	Egypt
Completed	1949
Owner	The Sovereign Fund of Egypt

Mogamma el Tahrir (Egyptians name it: مجمع التحرير and is translated as : Complex of Liberation )^[1] is a government building in Cairo, Egypt. The Mogamma was the result of a series of master plans for Esamailiyya Square (now Tahrir Square), which used to be occupied by the British barracks. In 1945 when King Farouk ordered the demolition of the barracks upon the departure of British troops from the area, a series of urban planning proposals ensued. The idea for a centralised, all-in-one administrative building emerged from the 1945 plans. Construction began in 1946, and ended in 1949. The building's style reflects typical 1940s modernism, and government buildings in the same style can be found in Buffalo, New York (Buffalo City Hall), and Paris. Contrary to popular belief, there is no Soviet association or inspiration, and the building was not constructed by the government of Egypt's second President, Gamal Abdel Nasser. Indeed, Nasser did not become the leader of Egypt until November 1954, several years after the building was completed.

The Mogamma is located in downtown Cairo to the south of Tahrir Square, which was, at the time, the newly designed "Liberation Square".^[2]

In 2021, the Egyptian government vacated the building^[3] and it was announced that it will be rebuilt at a cost of $200 million as a luxury hotel called CairoHouse by the Chicago-based Oxford Capital Group, Global Ventures Group, and UAE-based Al Otaiba Investments.^[4]