The Mogamma

The Mogamma
The Mogamma on Tahrir Square, Cairo
General information
Town or city	Cairo
Country	Egypt
Completed	1949

The Mogamma (Arabic: مجمع التحرير, also spelled Mugamma, roughly translated as 'the complex') is a government building in Cairo, Egypt. The Mogamma was the result of a series of master plans for the Qasr el Nil area (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".

The Mogamma is an administrative governmental building, where all paper work is done by government agencies. For example, one can go there to process documents, get a driver's license, or issue a visa. The governmental agencies that are located in the building include the Tax Evasion Investigations Offices, the Fire Fighting Organization, and the Passport Offices. The 14-story building is the workplace of 18,000–30,000 Egyptian public servants.

The structure and architecture of the Mogamma building was influenced by 1940s modernist architecture designed by the Egyptian architect, Mostafa Momen. The external appearance was not of main importance but rather, the structure focuses on central organization and maximization of space. The appearance of the building is plain yet intimidating in its colossal size.

The Mogamma has appeared in several Egyptian movies, the most famous one being Al-irhab wal Kebab (Terrorism and Kebab), a comedy in which the building's bureaucracy frustrates an Egyptian citizen to the point that he mistakenly grabs a guard's gun, proceeds to take the building hostage, and is labeled a terrorist. The film uses the Mogamma and unbearable bureaucracy as a metaphor for all that is wrong in Egyptian society.