In Downtown Cairo, one of the last remaining landmarks of the city’s belle époque closed its doors in a temporary move that some fear might become permanent.

Café Riche, one of the oldest and most famous coffee shops in Cairo, closed shortly after its manager and owner Magdy Abdel-Malak passed away on May 2.

Café Riche was originally handed down to Magdy from his father according to Egyptian law of the time, since he was the only heir living inside the country. So now, the fate of one of the most iconic legacies of modern Egyptian history is seemingly unknown.

, More than a hundred years old, this small wood-paneled coffee shop has witnessed every turn of events that has occurred in Cairo in the last century, and even played a role in some momentous ones. In addition, it once served as a prominent gathering of intellectuals, artists and writers in the country, a place where some of Egypt’s greatest talents could discuss great ideas over a cup of coffee. ,

It was when Khedive Ismail was building his prestigious “Paris on the Nile” with the help of some French architects that Café Riche’s long history began. Founded in 1908, Café Riche was soon bought by Frenchman Henry Recine who named it and then sold it to Greek Michael Nicoapolits. It later fell into another Greek hand before Magdi’s father Abdel-Malak became the first Egyptian to buy its lease.

Nicoapolits hosted open-air concerts adjacent to the coffee shop on a small stage, on which many musicians performed over the years, including the legendary Umm Kulthum, who performed one of her first performances there in 1923.

It is believed that during Egypt’s 1919 revolution, participants used the coffee shop’s basement to hide from the chaos outside and to operate a printing press that they used to print flyers and pamphlets. The machine is still there today. After that, Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Free Officers frequented the coffee shop, and it is believed that they planned the 1952 revolution that overthrew King Farouk within the walls of the famous café. Coincidentally, Farouk himself had announced that he met his second wife at the Riche.

By the time Egypt was no longer a kingdom, the Riche had became Cairo’s most-popular intellectual hub, frequented by some of the most-influential writers of the 20th century. The dean of Arabic literature Taha Hussein started his journal Al-Katib Al-Misri in the café. Egyptian Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz was known to visit the café every day and held a literary salon in the café on Fridays for many years.

“Riche is an archive of a century-worth of history and part of Egypt’s national memory. It must be saved,” retired journalist Ahmed Taha El-Nakr told Ahram Online, who has been visiting the Riche since the '70s and considers it “part of Egypt’s national heritage.”

According to Ahram Online, the legal status of Riche is unclear, because it is subject to an old rental law and so it is not actually owned by the Abdel-Malak family. Some think that the rent should move to the next heir, Magdy’s brother who currently lives in the United States.

The Riche’s history is very rich indeed. Its past is full of stories, documented in the black and white pictures of its famous guests in wooden frames adorning its walls, waiting to greet whomever enters its iconic wooden doors.

Now its loyal guests must wait to find out the fate of this truly extraordinary landmark, in hope of it opening its doors once again.