Atina Square Khartoum

Atina Square Khartoum

Then and Now

Above, Atina Square, central Khartoum, 2018.

Below, detail of one of the many vibrant murals made by Khartoum fine art undergraduates to decorate this lively meeting place.

Below, still from a video circulating on social media showing the wreckage now filling the square, post-war.

Atina Square, Khartoum

Atina Square, a stone’s throw from the ceaseless din and fumes of Gamhuriya Avenue, came alive at dusk. Then, the owners of the curios shops that lined the square would yawn, stretch, dust down their shop fronts and clank up their door shutters. Young Sudanese would flock like birds into the square to sip coffee and savour a few moments of leisure before a slow journey home.

They would sit on the low stools scattered around the charcoal braziers of the many tea sellers there or perch on the concrete cubes and benches that punctuated the little space, talking artistic projects, taking photos, laughing, smiling, joking, telling guests like me about their dreams of becoming photographers, designers, doctors, artists; of living in a democracy. Once I saw a photographic studio taking formal graduation portraits under the palm trees of the square. New graduates in their robes and sunshine yellow sashes posed, delighted and proud under the darkening sky, and full of promise in the spotlight’s beams.

There would be the rustle of green prayer mats unfurling and men quietly lining up in prayer. Youngsters bought fruit and Sudanese ice cream. Voices were raised, arguments defused, deals made. Shopkeepers hauled chairs into their doorways to eye the square for tourists, dreaming of ever more elusive hard currency in exchange for their skins, beads and carved animals. When I was last there in 2022, a giant desiccated crocodile grinned, gap-toothed atop one of the cubes.