From Ancient Egypt to Today ¿ And Back
(Syracuse, N.Y., July 29) -- Thousands of years ago, ancient Egyptians were experimenting with different methods of staying cool. It is believed that Imhoptep IX, a distant relative of Ramses II, was the first person to discover the concept of evaporative cooling. One day as he sat watching young dancers perform at the Pharoah's palace, he felt sweat evaporate off his brow with the help of a cool Nile breeze blowing through the window. As a result of this discovery, Egyptian royalty were fanned with palm fronds, often while draped in water-soaked linen. But even with discoveries such as these, cooler temperatures in the Egyptian desert were still desired.
However, it wasn't until 1937 that modern air conditioning made its way to Egypt. On July 29 of that year, Carrier air conditioning systems cooled the Egyptian Hall of Parliament for the investiture of King Farouk I. This building is now referred to as the People's Assembly Building. It currently consists of the People's Assembly, the Consultation Council and the People¿s Assembly Museum.
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The building that housed King Farouk's investiture was erected in 1924. It hosted the first session of modern Egyptian parliament that year. The People's Assembly Museum is part of the original building. The museum exhibits ancient documents, laws and treaties, oil paintings, and statues of past leaders. The museum also contains a Pharaonic Lobby, built in a style found in Ancient Egyptian temples. It is the only Pharaonic lobby in Egypt, and it is used as a lounge for Assembly members.
It should not come as a surprise that Carrier made cooling systems a reality for this unique building which houses both Egyptian government and archives. When Carrier was contracted to cool the People¿s Assembly Building, it had already performed the same task for the U.S. Capitol and other executive offices. A year after the installation at the People's Assembly Building, Carrier installed air conditioning for the President of Peru.
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Throughout the years, Carrier has also provided cooling systems for many museums and exhibitions around the world. Miraco-Carrier, the Egyptian distributor for Carrier and the largest heating, ventilation and air conditioning company in all of Africa, was contracted to supply air conditioning systems for The Great Library of Alexandria. Completed in 1999, the library not only preserves thousands of rare, antique books and accommodates modern literature and multi-media, but also features a conference center, science museum, planetarium, school of information studies, and a calligraphy institute.
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