Cairo and Giza: Then and now

Cairo, Egypt's capital city, and the outlying city of Giza are known as hubs of vibrant Egyptian culture. Today, we feature a selection of images from the Associated Press photo archive of both cities through the years.

The pyramids of Egypt are contrasted against the pyramidal tents of an army camp set up near Mena House to provide quarters for military police and other military personnel necessary at the Cairo Conference in Nov. 1943. The World War II meeting between leaders of the Three Great Allies, U.S.A., Great Britian and China, takes place Nov. 23-26. (AP Photo)

A street scene in Cairo, Egypt, in 1935. (AP Photo/Begy)

A patrol of Spahis, famous French Colonial cavalrymen, gallop their mounts down the side of a dune in the Egyptian desert, Jan. 3, 1941. These troops are reported to be among the French forces which remained allies to Great Britain after the armistice between France and the Axis powers. (AP Photo)

Young Egyptian peasant children play during a mid-day break, on the ground of the new school at Egyptís new farm project in El Tahrir province, Cairo on May 14, 1956. A nurse and teacher supervise the play. (AP Photo/Jim Pringle

Two peasants who have been under the new training system, attending to wheat growing in the former Western Desert in Cairo, Egypt on March 26, 1956. They are wearing modern farm clothes instead of the old fashioned Arab clothes they wore before. (AP Photo/Jim Pringle)

In this March 25, 1956 photo, Ferial, a belly dancer, performs at the Abdin Casino in Cairo, Egypt. Egypt's top religious body has demanded Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014 a new belly-dancing TV show be suspended for "corrupting morals" and serving "extremists" who could use it as a pretext to depict Egyptian society as anti-Islamic. (AP Photo)

The ten-centuries-old mosque of Al-Azhar gleaming lights during Ramadan nights in Cairo, Egypt on March 1, 1963. The dome and minaret mosque and at least five thousand other illuminated during Ramadan nights. (AP Photo/Mahmoud)

The Lion’s body of the sphinx is firm, but the human face of the majestic monument is showing the effects of 5,000 years of howling sandstorms, scorching desert days and chilling nights in Giza, Egypt on Dec. 5, 1978. “The Sphinx is sick,” reports the daily newspaper Al Akhbar in Cairo, Egypt. The newspaper is also kicking off a public campaign for urgent measures to protect one of Egypt’s prime attractions. (AP Photo)

Lights inside the Mohammed Ali Mosque inside the Citadel in Cairo, Egypt in 1977. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)

Potters at work in factories at South of Cairo, Egypt on March 14, 1981. (AP Photo/Bill Foley)

Egyptians walk in Al Muezz street in Al Azhar mosque area, in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

In this Friday, Dec. 28, 2012 photo, Muslims arrive to attend the Friday prayer at Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, Egypt. Dar el-Ifta, the top Islamic authority in Egypt, revered by many Muslims worldwide, launched Sunday an internet-based campaign aimed particularly at the West against an extremist group in Syria and Iraq, saying it is not an ìIslamic State.î The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Shawki Allam, and clerics from the oldest Islamic learning institute, Al-Azhar, have condemned the Islamic State saying it was violating all Islamic principles and laws, describing it as a danger to the religion. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

In this Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013 photo, Egyptian artisan, Mohammed Karam, 55 works on an oud at his workshop on Mohammed Ali street, a street modeled after Parisí boulevards, home to musicians, belly-dancers and instrument makers, in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The shops making, repairing and selling musical instruments that once packed the street are disappearing along with their window displays of lute-like, stringed ouds, qanouns and tablas -- a drum made equally for the rapid-fire hand beats of belly-dance tunes or for the languid rhythms of a love ballad by Umm Kalthoum, the most famed singer of classical Arabic music. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

In this Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013 photo, the Giza Pyramids stand out from the desert on the horizon, near Cairo, Egypt. Before the 2011 revolution that started Egypt's political roller coaster, sites like the pyramids were often overcrowded with visitors and vendors, but after a summer of coup, protests and massacres, most tourist attractions are virtually deserted to the point of being serene. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

A tourist poses for a photographer, unseen, at the historical site of the Giza Pyramids, near Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2013. Tourism in Egypt has dropped following unrest surrounding the July 3 popularly backed military coup that ousted President Mohammed Morsi. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)

Egyptian farmer, Sayyed Abdel Nabi, 50, poses for a picture, as other Egyptian farmers harvest wheat on a farm, not pictured, in Qalubiyah, North Cairo, Egypt, Monday, May 13, 2013. Egypt's wheat crop will be close to 10 million tons this season, agriculture minister Salah Abdel Momen said, as the harvest gets underway, more than the supply minister's 9.5 million ton forecast. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Egyptian children play on a slide set up next to a tent outside Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, where supporter of Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi have installed a camp and held daily rallies at Nasr City, in Cairo, Egypt, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2013. Morsi supporters demanded his reinstatement, restoration of the suspended constitution drafted under Morsi and the return of the disbanded Islamist-dominated legislative council. The interim government rejected those demands, moving forward with a fast-track plan calling for revising the constitution and holding presidential and parliamentary elections early next year. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Journalists visit the Sphinx, with the body of a lion and a human head, on a media tour following the completion of restoration work in preparation for the reopening of the courtyard around its base, in front of the Khafra pyramid, Giza, near Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Nov. 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Mustafa Mohamed, 5, reaches to trim a horse at his father's makeshift animal barber shop in Cairo, Egypt, March 8, 2014. The boy's father is one of Cairoís donkey barbers, a unique trade in the region, an expert in trimming and styling horses, camels, mules, sheep, goats, dogs and donkeys. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Egyptian women chant a day before Moulid, which commemorates the birth of Prophet Muhammed, the central figure of the Islamic religion, at a mosque in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Jan. 2, 2015. Every year, Egyptians celebrate Moulid by performing ritual dances, prayers and spending time with their families. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

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See collections of Cairo & Giza through the years. 

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