Maspero is the name of the huge building on the bank of the Nile river in Cairo, Egypt. It is the headquarters of Egyptian television, the oldest governmental television organization in the Middle East and Africa. Maspero is also the name of the street, which this building overlooks.
President Gamal Abdelnasser gave the order to construct the building in August 1959 and the first broadcast commenced on 21 June 1960 in the eighth anniversary of the July revolution (Egyptian Independence). It was built on an area of 12,000 square metres with a budget of 108 000 Egyptian pounds. The building was named after the French archaeologist Gaston Maspero, who was the chairman of the Egyptian Antiquities Authority.
As a key institution of the state, it was one of the first to be protected during Egypt's 25 January Revolution by the Egyptian Army.