Maspero television building

Maspero (Arabic: ماسبيرو Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [mæsˈbiːɾu, -piː-]) is the name of the huge building on the bank of the Nile river in Cairo, Egypt. It is the headquarters of the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (formerly the Arab Radio and Television Union, the oldest state-run broadcasting organisation in the Arab World and Africa. Maspero is also the name of the street, which this building overlooks.

History

Gamal Abdel Nasser, the President of the United Arab Republic (of which Egypt was then a part) ordered the construction of the building in August 1959. The first broadcast from Maspero commenced on 21 July 1960 with the country's introduction of television on the eighth anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. It was built on an area of 12,000 square metres, with a budget of E£108,000. The building was named after the French archaeologist Gaston Maspero, who was the chairman of the Egyptian Antiquities Authority.

As a key institution of the state, it was one of the first state buildings to be protected by the Egyptian Army during the outbreak of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.