The “Centro Formazione Professionale Restauro” (CFPR)  was born in 1986 as a result of the activities of a group of Italian experts (scholars, technicians, artisans) who operated according to a programme directed by Prof. G. Fanfoni. It all started in 1978 with the recovering of the wide monumental area of the Mevlevi convent.

The group of Italian experts is registered in Rome as non-profit association C.F.P.R. with the operative headquarters in Cairo, as “Italian-Egyptian Centre for Restoration and Archaeology”.

The “Italian-Egyptian Centre for Restoration and Archaeology” (C.I.E.R.A.), formally defined with the protocol between the Italian and Egyptian Governments signed on the 9th February 1988, was officially inaugurated on 28th July 1988. In that occasion the restored Sama`khana Mevlevi was opened to the public; it is a cultic building with a theatre-like layout which was recovered during a long educational and restoration activity carried out in collaboration with the Supreme Council of Antiquities (S.C.A.)