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El Gomrok District
El Gomrok District

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Squares & streetsMohamed Ali’s Alexandria and after

The Naval Unknown Soldier Memorial

A monument Alexandria’s Italian community built in 1933 to honour Khedive Ismail, turned in the 1960s into the memorial to the naval Unknown Soldier.
Around it on the map
The Naval Unknown Soldier Memorial: a half-round marble colonnade with broad steps, the guard of honour at its centre, and El Manshiya’s buildings behind

Image credits

The story

What sets it apart

A half-round marble colonnade on the El Manshiya Corniche.

  • 1The half-round colonnade
  • 2The guard of honour
  • 3El Manshiya square around it

The district’s page on the governorate portal (2010) says the Unknown Soldier memorial was once the base of a statue of Ismail Pasha, designed by the architect of the royal palaces, and given by Alexandria’s Italian community.

Arabic Wikipedia says the Italian community built it in 1933 to honour Khedive Ismail, and that it became the Unknown Soldier memorial in the 1960s. The square around it is one of the places the district’s campaigns visit most.

Mohamed Ali’s Alexandria and after1800–1952

Its place in time

  1. Before itThe Hydrobiological MuseumThe institute founded in 1918
  2. This landmarkThe Naval Unknown Soldier Memorial1933, the Unknown Soldier memorial from the 1960s

On the timeline of all the landmarks

Memories of the place

Every memory is taken from a published, documented source, named under it.

  1. 1933

    Alexandria’s Italian community built the monument to honour Khedive Ismail, as the base of his statue.

    Source: Arabic Wikipedia: «النصب التذكاري للجندي البحري المجهول»

The other memories 3

  1. 4 December 1938

    King Farouk unveiled the statue of his grandfather, Khedive Ismail, in El Manshiya Square, at a ceremony held by Alexandria’s Italian community.

    Source: Al-Ahram Gate: «أقامته الجالية الإيطالية.. ونجا من الإذابة.. تعرف على قصة تمثال الخديو إسماعيل بالإسكندرية» (2018; read 29 Oct 2026)

  2. The 1960sSources differ on this date

    The monument became the memorial to the naval Unknown Soldier: in 1965 according to Arabic Wikipedia, which in the same place mentions a presidential decision of 1964.

    Source: Arabic Wikipedia: «النصب التذكاري للجندي البحري المجهول»

The other memories1

  1. As the district’s page describes it (2010)

    The memorial was once the base of a statue of Ismail Pasha, designed by the architect of the royal palaces and given by Alexandria’s Italian community.

    Source: Alexandria Governorate, El Gomrok District: «الجندي المجهول» (2010; archived 29 Dec 2013)

Around it

  • This landmark
  • A landmark nearby: open it

Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors

Nearby landmarks

Distances are as the crow flies, and approximate.