First there were rumors that the 160-year old building will be destroyed or modified, but then the Minister of Culture intervened and listed the Lycee Abdel Kader old school building as a heritage building.

Fast forward to June 2019, the building will indeed be kept intact but it will be merged into a commercial mall. Normally I’d say this would be a nice architectural challenge but given past experiences, like the Laziza factory in Mar Mikhail, I’d say we’d be fortunate if the building stays in one piece while construction take place.