The U.S. Embassy in Cairo announced Thursday plans to restore a Jewish cemetery in Egypt, which is one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the world.
The latest project funded under the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) is the conservation of the Bassatine Cemetery in Cairo, one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the world.
As part of the longstanding strategic partnership between the United States and Egypt, since 2001 the American people have funded the conservation and restoration of over a dozen Egyptian cultural heritage sites under the AFCP.
At the inauguration of the project, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Jonathan Cohen said, “We are proud to partner in preserving and protecting Egypt’s heritage sites. This Ambassadors Fund project at Bassatine Cemetery is an investment in Egypt’s diverse cultural history, and an opportunity to raise awareness of Egypt’s diversity.”
The American Research Center in Egypt, in collaboration with Drop of Milk Foundation, will implement the project at Bassatine Cemetery to conserve graveyards and architecture, as well as ensure long-term sustainability of the site.
The Bassatine Cemetery dates back to the ninth century, and it was previously divided into designated areas for the Rabbanite and Karaite Jewish communities. Egyptian Jews of all backgrounds have been buried in the site since its founding, including important historic figures in the Egyptian Jewish community such as Rabbi Haim Capusi and representatives of well-known Egyptian Jewish families from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.