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La Place des Consuls après l'incendie, 1882

 Item
Reference Code: GBR/0115/RCS/Y3041A/15

Scope and Contents

263 x 197 mm. A view taken from the Palais de Justice looking along the Great Square in a south-easterly direction showing the destruction wrought by the fires started in the European quarter by Arabi's retreating army and other looters. In the foreground there is fire fighting equipment and a few marines: 'They [a landing party of 200 men under Major Phillips] then entered what had been the great square; the equestrian statue of Mohammed Ali still stood in the centre, and behind it rose the Palais de Justice. The fountains still played in the centre of the garden. Along both sides and one end of the square the ruin was complete. Volumes of smoke still rose from behind the facades of the houses, bleached white by the intense heat to which they had been exposed; there were great gaps in the line of skeleton walls, where the whole face of the houses had fallen across the road.

A horrible smell of burning flesh from time to time assailed the nostrils of the party, and told of bodies of murdered Europeans upon whom the heated walls had fallen'. (Archer 1886, pp 285-6).

Dates

  • Creation: 1882

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

From the Fonds:

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

Language of Materials

English

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

Good condition, apart from slight fading in from edges.

Related Materials

For a view of the same square, but looking north-west, see Y3041A/14.

Bibliography

For further information on the bombardment see: Archer, Thomas (1886), The War in Egypt and the Soudan, Volume 1, London: Blackie and Son.

General

SG.

Finding aid date

2003-07-01 14:23:34+00:00

Includes index.

Repository Details

Part of the Cambridge University Library Repository

Contact:
Cambridge University Library
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Cambridge CB3 9DR United Kingdom