Tahrir Square (Liberation Square) is a major public town square in Downtown Cairo. The square was originally called Ismailia Square, after the 19th-century ruler Khedive Ismail, who commissioned the new downtown district's 'Paris on the Nile' design. After the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 the square was called Tahrir (Liberation) Square, but the square was not officially renamed until the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, which changed Egypt from a constitutional monarchy into a republic.
At the centre of Tahrir Square is a large and busy traffic circle. On the north-east side is a plaza with a statue of Ottoman Egypt-era Cairene Omar Makram, and beyond is the masjed Omar Makram (Omar Makram Mosque).
The square is the northern terminus of the historic Qasr al-Ayn Street, the western terminus of Talaat Harb Street, and via Qasr ElNil Street crossing its southern portion it has direct access to the Qasr ElNil Bridge crossing the nearby Nile River.
The area around Tahrir Square includes the Egyptian Museum, the Mogamma government building, the Headquarters of the Arab League building, the Nile Hotel, and the original downtown campus of the American University in Cairo.
The Cairo Metro serves Tahrir Square with the Sadat Station, which is the downtown junction of the system's two lines, linking to Giza, Maadi, Helwan, Elmarg,and other districts and suburbs of Greater Cairo. Its underground access viaducts provide the safest routes for pedestrians crossing the broad
roads of the heavily trafficked square.
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| Tahrir Square |
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| Tahrir Square 1980 |
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| Mogamma government building in Tahrir square |
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| Tahrir Square from Google Earth |
Tahrir Square was the focal point of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution against former president Hosni Mubarak.
Over 100,000 protesters first occupied the square on 25 January, during which the area's wireless services were reported to be impaired.
In the following days Tahrir Square continued to be the primary destination for protests in Cairo.
On 29 January Egyptian fighter aircraft flew low over the people gathered in the square. On 30 January, the seventh day of the protests, BBC and other correspondents reported that the number of demonstrators had grown to at least 200,000, and on 31 January Al Jazeera correspondents reported that the demonstrations had grown to at least 350,000 people. On 1 February, Al Jazeera reported that more than 1 million protesters peacefully gathered in the square and adjacent streets.
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| More than 1 million people during Egyptian Revolution |
The square became established as a focal point and a symbol for the ongoing Egyptian democracy demonstrations. On 2 February violence erupted between the pro-Mubarak and pro-democracy demonstrators here, followed by the 3 February 'Friday of Departure' demonstration, one of the named "day of" events centered in the square. The 18-day-long revolt centered in the square — led by the young people of Egypt and joined by citizens of all ages, genders, and classes — succeeded in the ouster of Mubarak on Friday 11 February 2011, when the president officially stepped down from office. The announcement, that Mubarak had passed all authority to the Council of the Armed Forces, was made by longtime intelligence chief and new vice president Mr Omar Suleiman. Tahrir Square erupted in a night-long celebration after the twilight announcement, with shouts such as "Lift your head up high, you're Egyptian," "Everyone who loves Egypt, come and rebuild Egypt," and others. The next day Egyptian women and men came to clean up the square, "they came and cleaned up after their revolution," relaying 'projectiles' in the cobblestone paving and removing eighteen day's worth of trash and graffit.
- See Egyptian Youth cleaning tahrir Square after their revolution
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| Egyptian Children cleaning Tahrir Square |
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| Qasr Elnil Bridge's Lions |
