AMMAN — From the 1950s until the 1980s — a crucial time in
the development of
Amman — cinemas played a huge role in shaping the cultural
and social identity of the city. However, in today’s Amman, the cinemas are
mostly shells of their old selves; abandoned buildings that only bring feelings
of nostalgia to the city’s old residents.
اضافة اعلان
Located in the southern slope of Jabal
Luweibdeh, Al-Khayyam
Cinema was originally built as “Al-Fayyumi Cinema” in 1949, for its owner Abd
Al-Razzaq Al-Fayyumi. Later in the early 1960s, the new owner of the building,
Mahmoud Abu Qura, reopened the cinema as “
Al-Khayyam Cinema”, after Omar
Al-Khayyam Street, where it is located. The cinema was redesigned into the
building we know today by Egyptian architect Sayyid Kuraim.
Al-Khayyam’s structure represents a brilliant example of an
Ammani modernist style of architecture. Kuraim succeeded in designing a
building that was influenced by modernity, yet, did not turn its back on the
original identity of the city.
The building sits elegantly on the hill, blending into its
geography and context.
Its unique façade, which is visible from street level,
the downtown area, and opposing neighborhoods, consists of typical Ammani
concrete blocks colored with the three main colors of the Bauhaus movement:
red, blue and yellow. The colors create interesting asymmetrical geometric
patterns intersecting to generate a masterpiece.
The 850-square-meters building consists of three floors, at
a height of 17 meters. The main entrance and what used to be the ticket window
are accessed from Omar Al-Khayyam Street, covered with blue-patterned ceramic
tiles and leading into the entrance hall that extends into the main hall and
the stage.
Stairs lead into the first floor’s cafeteria, which serves
the cinema and a few offices. The second floor contains the upper hall, the
control room, and offices that can be accessed by two different staircases. The
third floor contains a VIP room and offices.
Mohammad Al-Bawab, a fifty-year-old Amman resident who has
worked and lived in the same street his whole life, describes the scene in
Amman’s golden era of cinema, between the 70s and the 80s, as “vibrant and full
of life.”
He recalls winding queues of cinemagoers waiting to be let
in, noting that an outdoor cafeteria was put in because people who were waiting
in line outnumbered the people inside.
For Ramzi Al-Omari, another fifty-year-old resident, who
also lived on the same street his whole life, “what made the cinema special is
that it was a family cinema,” he said. “It had a family section and special
family films, in addition to always displaying the most recent films. I
remember that Omar Al-Sharif and Poussi had personally watched their film
opening ‘My love... Always’ in the cinema.”
Al-Khayyam reflects a collective memory of the cultural and
artistic life of the city and the social activities of its residents. The cinema’s
program used to be published in official newspapers to draw a diverse audience
from different social backgrounds and age groups.
Aziz, the 72-year-old owner of Aziz Tailor Shop on Omar
Al-Khayyam Street and a film enthusiast, has a wide collection of pictures with
celebrities who had visited the cinema, such as Mahmoud Shokoko, Ihab Nafea,
Sayed Zayan, Samir Ghanem, and Samira Tewfik.
“The tickets were around 30 piasters, while a seat in the
upper hall cost 50 piasters as I remember,” he recalled.
Abandoned for about twenty years and left to deteriorate,
the perception of the architectural masterpiece in the eyes of the Jordanian
youth considerable differs than that of their elders.
“Sadly, there is nothing but dirt and animals inside now,”
said Moyyad Al-Moghrabi, a twenty-year-old Amman resident. “When I was younger,
I even remember homeless people sleeping inside.”
Jabal Luweibdeh has specific building restrictions that
prevent demolition of the building, leaving restoration the only option. The
current owner had some plans to turn the cinema into a parking lot, but the
plan does not seem to be feasible for the building’s location.
However, the ailing cinema has drawn the attention of many
architects, becoming a subject of study for architecture students as an
adaptive reuse project, which may open doors to resolve the issue and save part
of the city’s cultural heritage.
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Lifestyle
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