Hadrian gate in philae temple Aswan

The demotic inscription reads:
"I, Nesmeterakhem, the Scribe of the House of Writings (?) of Isis, son of Nesmeterpanakhet the Second Priest of Isis, and his mother Eseweret, I performed work on this figure of Mandulis for all time, because he is fair of face towards me. Today, the Birthday of Osiris, his dedication feast, year 110 [of the reign of Diocletian

 Before Mandulis son of Horus, by the hand of Esmet-Akhom, son of Esmet, the Second Priest of Isis, for all time and eternity. Words spoken by Mandulis, Lord of the Abaton, great god."

The Tomb of Nakht

The agricultural scenes

  

these scenes may also have the aim of presenting the succession of the seasons and thus providing a calendar for eternity. The upper area is divided into three registers, the top two of which have a canopy at the right-hand end, under which sits another image of Nakht. He also appears similarly at the right-hand end of the bottom register, again under his canopy. None of the actual scenes of agriculture contain descriptive texts, although thirteen columns for such were created in the next to top register; these were however left totally blank The activities begin in the bottom register with the preparation of the land and continue in the three shorter upper ones.

Nakht

The upper image of Nakht has him seated on a stool, holding a long staff in his right hand and a folded piece of cloth in his other, which he rests on his lap .He is dressed differently to that of his standing image before the offerings, this time he has a semi-transparent garment over his upper torso, which drapes over his back. This canopy, and the one below, is supported at the front by a papyriform pillar, with a double lotus blossom attachment, and the remainder of the structure apparently made from reed mats, including the ground area on which his stool rests. This upper image, which is larger than the one below, includes five columns of descriptive text, written in blue hieroglyphs, in which the third column (containing the name of Amon) has been destroyed. The text states: "Sitting in a booth and looking at his fields; the serving-priest of [Amon, the scribe Nakht, justified], triumphant before the great god.". In front of his booth are piled many provisions of food and drink, this time not being offerings but his sustenance during his time observing the activities in the fields, which he observes.

The bottom image of Nakht is different in the fact that here is shown wearing a short beard and there is no accompanying text  Again, in front of his booth is a pile of provisions, this time different from the ones of the upper image and displayed more clearly. However, unlike the upper registers,

the workers of this bottom register are also supplied with provisions. These are located at the left-hand end of the scene, under a tree, obviously less plentiful than those of their master. In the branches of the tree hangs an animal skin of water, from which one of the workers drinks. For some reason the artist has included one bag of corn seed on top of the workers' provisions and two on top of those of Nakht.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The activities of the bottom register

The agricultural activities begin in this bottom register

Several scenes are depicted here, one set separated from the other by an undulating ground level or a creek, which runs along the middle of the image, in the centre of which is enclosed a small lake or pool left by the inundation from the Nile. This certainly gives the imagery a feeling of depth.
  

The major activity (by size) is that of ploughing, where the two farmers direct their ploughs towards each other, thus forming at first glance a symmetrical composition. However, these two images are different. On the left, the farmer stands erect and reasonably youthful, his plough being pulled by two brown oxen. Whereas, the farmer on the right is bent over his plough and with his partially bold head is obviously much older; his plough is pulled by two black and white oxen. Behind the left-hand ploughman is a naked youth who scatters the seed into the furrows he has made.
To their left, two men pound the ground with mallets, probably breaking up large and hard clods of earth, whilst another scatters seeds into their cultivated soil. Immediately behind this man is the pile of farmers provisions, above which is the tree shading these and the skin of water


Above the undulating separation are two more scenes.
When the Nile flood has receded (in late summer), it leaves behind large pools of water, as shown in the undulating line, in the low-lying agricultural land. This area also remains muddy and is where Egyptian peasants sowed their crops.
The farmers on the left are shown standing up to their ankles in the mud, using hoes to break up the more solid layer below. A seed sower works with them.
On the right, a field worker cuts down tamarisk and mimosa trees at the edge of the cultivation area, thus extending the fields farther towards the desert. Another man works in the wild grassland thus enabling its cultivation.

The activities of the upper three registers

 

These registers cover the activities which take place at the end of the growing season. These are to be viewed in the following order: bottom one first, followed by the top one and finally the one between

Bottom register - harvesting

This is divided into three sub-scenes, starting from the right. Three harvesters, each holding a sickle, walk into the tall wheat in order to harvest it. They all point in front of them, perhaps towards Nakht who may be overseeing what they do, or perhaps pointing to what still had to be done. The artist has omitted to add the detail of the tall stems of the harvest in front of them, which is included behind them, but did manage to make it a straw colour.
The tall crop of the first scene separates this scene from the one to its left. Here, two workers are trying to close the top of an overfilled container, indicating the abundance of the harvest. The man on the left stands in the usual attitude, whereas his companion is shown in full action, as he leaps into the air to put pressure on a long pole, to try to force the excess into the large basket. Below him is a gleaner gathering the heads of wheat which have fallen to the ground.

At the left edge, two girls harvest flax, which also appears in other tombs, although there seems to be no real connection with the crop being harvested, other than perhaps the time during which it happens. The colour of the background plants is totally different, changing from a straw colour to green, which definitely separates the two scenes within the register. It also highlights the whiteness of the dresses of the two young ladies, thus easily seeing that they wear dresses of different designs, although both are fairly close fitting and reach down to their ankles.

Upper two registers - winnowing (uppermost), gathering and measuring (below)

 

Due to a lack of space, the artist has omitted the treading of the corn on the threshing floor by oxen. Thus the action moves immediately from the harvesting to the topmost scene, that of the winnowing.

The winnowing scene is that of the separation of grain from the chaff, which would have taken place on a day when a light breeze was blowing. This would blow away the light chaff, letting the grain fall to the ground. Six men, three on either side, toss the mixture into the air using two scoops, whilst two others stoop in the middle. One picks up more of the mixture from the ground, again with two scoops, whilst the other is provided with two small brooms and brushes the scattered grain towards the central heap. All the men wear white cloths tied around their heads to keep out the dust. The image is very symmetrical, using curves within curves.
  



Above the scoops of the standing men is an image which also appears in TT38. This is a goblet stand, above which can be seen the presence of a strange object resembling ectoplasm : it actually consists of a bundled sheaf of corn held within a crescent moon shape. This was thought by Davies to represent an inverted goblet, and that the group evoked an offering to the goddess of the harvests, Renutet. According to Moret and Assman, it is to be considered as representing an offering to Osiris, but an explanation proposed by Capart seems more probable: "Miss Blackman (note: this is the sister of the well known Egyptologist) […] had the surprise to discover, suspended in a granary in Illahun, the object which appeared in the tombs of the XVIIIth Dynasty. It is a kind of small doll made from the last collected ears, and which was keep until the following season".

The gathering and measuring scene is another well represented image in tombs. This includes two men who stoop to gather and measure the grain, whilst an official watches over them. It is surprising not to see him actually recording their results. Here the artist has drawn the curves of the heaped grain at each end of the scene at different heights, with the men who gather the grain and the official having their feet completely covered. Note that the feet of all the men in the image above have their feet in full view, as if being superimposed on the image, rather than being part of it. Also note that this scene was intended to have been annotated in the blank

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The Tomb of Nakht

The eleven lines of text above the scene describe it as follows (the name of Amon having been removed three times) : "Offering all good and pure things, bread, beer, ox, poultry, long-horned cattle and short-horned cattle, which are placed on the altars [of Amon, to] Re-Harakhty, to Osiris the great god, to Hathor mistress of the necropolis, and to Anubis on his hill; (by) the serving-priest of [Amon, the scribe Nakht, justified], (and) his sister, his beloved, with a place in his heart, the chantress of [Amon, Tawy], justified.".

The offerings rest on a reed mat, whilst above the many different items, as mentioned above, is another reed mat on which stand four vessels, no doubt for oil or unguents. Over each of these four vessels rest lotus blossoms, both in bud and in bloom.

Nakht, bared-footed and with a shoulder-length black wig and no beard, is dressed in a short white kilt with a longer semi-transparent one over it. He wears wrist bracelets on each arm and a colourful broad necklace around his neck. In his hands he holds a vessel from which he pours the contents (incense oil, in the form of an orange mass) onto the pile of offerings.
Tawy, also bared-footed and with a longer black wig around which is a broad head band adorned at the front with a lotus blossom, is dressed in a tight fitting white dress, which reveals her breast. Over the white dress is also a semi-transparent longer one, the bottom edge of which reaches over her feet. She wears four bracelets, one on each wrist and one on each upper arm. Her broad necklace is also colourful and very decorative. In her right hand she holds a menat necklace and in the other a musical instrument called a sistrum. Both of these were associated with the goddess Hathor and were certainly appropriate to her title as "chantress of Amon".

Sub-scene, below the offerings

A sacrificial ox, which is lying a reed mat, is being dismembered by two men. The artist would appear to have made a very strange error: if the ox is lying on the mat, then the lower part of their legs should not appear in front of it, from behind the animal A third man is shown offering to Nakht a dish with two white cones of fat, presumably made from the animal being dismembered.

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The Tomb of Nakht ( NAKHT AND HIS FAMILY)

NAKHT AND HIS FAMILY

Nakht

Nakht ,  means "strong", held the positions/titles of "scribe" and "serving priest". his wife, Tawy, was a chantress of Amon, and  her son was called Amenemapet.
The title "scribe" (which is usually placed second) simply means that he had received the education of an official, whilst his other, that of "wenuti" is so rarely used (even in other tombs) that it must indicate a very secondary function. Within the texts of the walls (and the small statue) this word is written in five different ways (, , , and ). In each case this was followed by the name "Amon", and which in each case has been removed. The title indicates a class of priest or temple official whose duties and rank are not very clear. Its use to identify an individual is very rare. It clearly refers to members of a roster whose period of service was fixed to certain hours of the night or day. It would appear that they were laymen, summoned to perform short duties of service in the temple and who thought of it as an honour to fulfil the simplest tasks, thus explaining why few officials carried the title except those who, like Nakht, had no other definite positions of office in administration. Thus the translation as "serving priest" or probably more correctly "priest of the hours" (of "Amon") seems appropriate. The determinative , found at the end of two versions of the word, used rarely in this tomb, is also associated with the word "astronomer", and has given rise to the thought that Nakht may have been an "astrologer" of the temple of Amon (although the word "temple" is never included in the texts.
His titles and name are usually followed by the hieroglyphs for "true of voice", interpreted as "justified" or "deceased". This originates from the fact that the dead person must appear before Osiris and the scales of truth (the "weighing of the heart ceremony"), where his heart is weighed against the feather, the symbol of the goddess of truth, order and justice, Ma'at. If the heart equals the weight of the feather then the person is proved true and honest, i.e. justified, and can proceed into to afterlife. The scene of the "weighing of the heart" does not appear in this tomb.
Despite the small size of the tomb it can hardly one of a poor man or a person of no important position. To have the wherewithal in order to produce a tomb of this quality he certainly had something, perhaps he had close connections with the royal court or the royal family itself, although there is no indication of this in the tomb decoration. Regarding the period in which he lived, there can be not doubt, the erasure of the name of Amon from the texts in the complex shows that it was at least prior to the Akhenaton era. the relationship of the decorative style indicates that he must have lived during the reign of Thutmosis IV and Amenhotep III.

Tawy

His wife, Tawy , is identified most commonly in the tomb as "his beloved, the chantress of Amon". Her identity only appears five times, and her name only four times, each time the deletion of the name "Amon" has also removed other characters.
- On the north wall, upper register, she is "His sister, his beloved, the chantress of [Amon], Tawy.". On the lower register, the columns above the couple have been left without text.
- On the south wall, she is only mentioned in the badly damage area of the false door (centre top), where all that remains for certain is "mistress of the house".
- On the east wall - left-hand side, there is only room for "His sister, the chantress of [Amon], Tawy, justified.". However, only the last two characters of "His sister" and "justified" have survived the removal of the name "Amon".
- On the east wall - right-hand side, she is named once: "His sister, his beloved, with a place in his heart, the chantress of [Amon, Tawy], justified." Here her actual name has been lost by the removal of "Amon".
- On the west wall - right-hand side, she is mentioned twice in the upper register on the left-hand side. Firstly in the blue text, as: "His sister, the chantress of [Amon], mistress of the house, Tawy." Then, in multi-colour, as: "His sister, his beloved, with a place in his heart, [the chantress of Amon], Tawy."
- On the west wall - left-hand side, no text to identify her has survived, the only text is that which states that the son is hers.
Note that she is only referred to as "justified" twice. Also, again only twice, is she referred to as "mistress of the house", which actually identifies her as "his wife"; the term "sister" being used for both "wife" and "sister".
Tawy held the title as "chantress of Amon", like most women with any resemblance of rank, thus it is uncertain that the title entailed anything other than being possibly associated with the temple of Amon, just as her husband was.

Children

Amenemopet , who is not described explicitly as Nakht's son, appears on the rear wall - left side, in the bottom register of the scene of "Beautiful Festival of the Valley". He is actually identified as "her son" and may have been from a previous marriage of Tawy. In the one and only occurrence of his name, as elsewhere, the hieroglyphs spelling the name "Amen" (often used in names for "Amon", although the hieroglyphic spelling is the same) has been removed.
Other sons and daughters doubtless appear in the tomb, but were never specifically inscribed as being such or even named.

Parents and other family members

There is no mention of his or his wife's parents in either the texts or the imagery. Nor are there any indications to their ancestry. Neither is there any information about the previous marriage of Tawy, other than the fact the son is identified solely as hers.

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El Moez Street

El Moez is actually an Arabic name. His real name was Abu Tamim Maad El Moez LeDin Allah, but the name was too long for a street, so people call it El Moez Street. However, the last name, Al Fatimi, was not the guy’s last name. It was actually a description that meant he belonged to the Fatimid Caliphate.
‘Glorifier of the religion of God’ was the name that always people described El Moez by. He was the fourth caliph of the Fatimid dynasty and the 14^th Ismaili Imam. His reign began in 953 and lasted for 22 years. The power of the Arab Fatimid Dynasty was quite dominant during his reign. Besides, he was the one to move the center of the dynasty from North Africa to Egypt. The Fatimid dynasty was the duration where the city of Cairo came into being. Cairo was actually the new capital of the Fatimid caliphate.During El Moez’s reign, people had always known him for his amazing acceptance of other religions. El Moez was a Shia Muslim; however, he was quite famous among the Christian and the Jewish communities. Above and beyond, he was the one who ordered the invention of the first fountain pen. The fountain pen was actually a pen that did not stain either the hands or the clothes.

El Mui'z Street still starts out at Bab Zuweila, the only remaining gate of the southern walls of Fatimid, Cairo. The gate itself was not constructed until the Mamluk Period, during the 11th century. The Caliph used to watch the annual pilgrimage caravan going to Mecca from here, and this gate was also notorious as the site for public execution. The criminals were hung from the gate's walls. Sometimes the severed heads of criminals would be displayed along the tops of the walls. This was done as recently as 1811, when the severed heads of Mamluks from the Citadel massacre were mounted on spikes here. This gate is named for the tribe that was garrisoned nearby.
Bab Zuweila was also called Bab Al Mutawali, which can be translated as the "gate of the responsible" because the individual responsible for communicating the problems of the people to the Caliph sat beside this gate

Bab El Naser, Gate of Victory, is one of three remaining gates in the walls of the Old City of Cairo Egypt, in Islamic Cairo, it is a massive fortified gate with rectangular stone towers flanking the semicircular arch of the eastern Portal. The original Bab al-Nasr was built south of the present one by Fatimid general Jawhar as-Siqilli under Imam Moiz when the city was first laid out. Later Vazir Badr al-Jamali under Imam Mustansir enlarged the city and replaced the first gate with the present one, naming it Bab al-'Izz (Gate of Prosperity). Despite this, the inhabitants have shown preference to the original name meaning "Gate of Victory", which has remained in use to this day.
A significant decorative feature is the shields on the flanks and fronts of the protruding towers, which symbolize victory in protecting the city against invaders. Napoleon later named each tower of the north wall after the officers responsible for its security. The names of these French officers are carved near the upper level of the gates.
In Bab al-Nasr kalema-tut-Shahadat is inscribed claiming Fatimid belief on Muhammad and Ali for the part of Nabuvat and Imamat

Bab El Futuah, one of three remaining gates in the walls of the Old City of Cairo The gate was part of fortification built by Commander/Vizier Badr al-Jamali of Fatimid Imam/caliph Mustansir. Its rounded towers were a stronger defense than the square towers of Bab al-Nasr (another Old City gate, just to the east). They had shafts for pouring boiling water or burning oil on attackers, and arrow slits. The gate is covered in vegetal and geometric motifs.

 Bab El Naser, Gate of Victory, and Bab El Futuah, Gate of Conquests. They were both built in 1087 and were enlarged by Salah El Din Al Ayouby. It is possible to walk on the walls and near these gates by jumping from the roof of Mosque of Al Hakim and then to the walls. These gates demonstrate a great example of how Cairo was protected in the Fatimid period.

Cairo's medieval city gates include:

• Bāb al-Baḩr (the Gate of the Shore), built in 1174 by Bahā’ al-Dīn Qaraqūsh, near northwest corner in the northern wall; destroyed in city modernizations by Muḩammad ‘Alī in early 19th century.
• Bāb al-Barakīyyah (the Gate of Blessedness?) I, built by Jawhar al-Şaqalī; destroyed in 1936.
• Bāb al-Barakīyyah II, built by Şalāh al-Din in 1184; part of the eastern wall which was built far to the east to allow expansion of the city eastward from the Nile.
• Bāb al-Faraj (the Gate of Succour), in the southern Cairo wall at the hall where the tomb of Set Seada is located.
• Bab al-Futuh - finished in the year 1087, remains at the northern end of Muizz Street
• Al-Bāb al-Jadīd (the New Gate), built in 1170 in the eastern wall; still remains.
• Bāb al-Ghūrī (the Gate of the Attacker)
• Bāb al-Ḩusayniyyah (Ḩusayniyyah Gate, referring to a district)
• Bāb al-Khalq (the Gate of Creation)
• Bab El Khoga
• Bāb al-Naşr (the Gate of Victory) finished in 969 CE, replaced circa 1121 by the Bab al-'Izz (Gate of Prosperity), remains in Muizz Street district
• Bāb al-Qanţarah (the Gate of the Bridge)
• Bāb al-Qilà (the Gate of Alkali)
• Bāb al-Shaarīy‘ah In Arabic: باب_الشعرية (The Gate attributed to the name of a tribe)
• Bāb al-Silsilah (the Gate of the Chain)
• Bāb al-Sirr (the Gate of the Secret)
• Bāb al-Tawfīq (the Gate of Success)
• Bāb al-Wazīr (the Minister's Gate), opened in 1341 by the wazīr (vizier—minister of state) Najm al-Dīn Muḩammad; still remains.
• Bāb Khān al-Khalīlī (Khān al-Khalīlī Gate, referring to a district)
• Bāb Sa‘ādah (Gate of Happiness)
• Bāb Darb al-Laban (Gate of the Milky Way)

  

The garlic and onion market. There are many garlic shops in the area and it is famous for this kind of trade. At the end of this market, there is the Mosque of Al Hakim Be'amr Allah, Ruler by God's Command(Arabic: مسجد الحاكم بأمر الله‎, Masjid al-Ḥākim bi Amr Allāh), nicknamed al-Anwar (Arabic: الانور‎, lit. 'the Illuminated'), is a major Islamic religious site in Cairo, Egypt. It is named after Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (985–1021), the sixth Fatimid caliph and 16th Ismaili Imam. the third Fatimid Caliph. He ruled when he was only eleven years old and had his tutor murdered when he was fifteen. He is famous for his strange actions and violence. He even ordered shoemakers to stop manufacturing shoes for women to prohibit them from leaving their homes or walking in the street. This mosque was actually built by his father by Al Hakim, completed in 1013, and was used as a prison for crusaders in the period of Mohamed Ali. It was restored in the 1980's and is now a good example of the Islamic art of the period.
At various times, the mosque was used as a prison for captured Franks (i.e. Latin crusaders) during the Crusades, as a stable by Saladin, as a fortress by Napoleon, and as a local school. As a result of this the mosque had fallen out of use.
In 1980 ACE/1401 AH, the mosque was extensively refurbished in white marble and gold trim by Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin the head of the Dawoodi Bohra, an international Ismaili sect based in India. Remnants of the original decorations, including stucco carvings, timber tie-beams, and Quranic inscriptions were restored as part of the renovations.


The most spectacular feature of the mosque are the minarets on either side of the facade, reminiscent of the propylon to a pharaonic temple.
Originally the two minarets stood independent of the brick walls at the corners. These are the earliest surviving minarets in the city and they have been restored at various times during their history.

Islamic Cairo
Northern part	Gates Bab al-Barakeyah Bab al-Futuh Bāb al-Naşr Bab al-Wazir Bab Khan al-Khalili Bab Zuweila Main streets Muizz Street Qasabah Street Share'a el Khayamiya (Tentmakers' Street) Mosques Al-Ashraf Mosque Al-Azhar Mosque Sultan Al-Ghuri Complex Al-Hakim Mosque Al-Hussein Mosque Al-Salih Tala'i Mosque Amir Jamal al-Din al-Ustadar Mosque Aqmar Mosque Mosque of Abu Dahab Mosque of Sultan al-Muayyad Mosque of Taghribirdi Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Barquq Mosque-Sabil of Sulayman Agha al-Silahdar Qalawun complex Madrasas Al-Azhar University Khanqah of Baybars II Madrassa of Al-Nasir Muhammad Madrasa and Dome of Al-Saleh Nagm Al-Din Ayyub Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Barquq Sabil-Kuttab of Katkhuda Others Al-Azhar Park Bayt Al-Suhaymi Beshtak Palace Church of the Virgin Mary Khan el-Khalili Qasaba of Radwan Bey Wakala al-Sultan Qaytbay Wikala of Al-Ghuri
Southern part	Main streets Saliba Street Mosques Al-Nasir Muhammad Mosque Al-Rifa'i Mosque Amir Khayrbak Funerary Complex Complex of Sultan al-Ashraf Qaytbay Juyushi Mosque Lulua Mosque Madrasa of Sarghatmish Mosque and Khanqah of Shaykhu Mosque of Amir al-Maridani Mosque of Ibn Tulun Mosque of Muhammad Ali Mosque of Qani-Bay Mosque of Qanibay al-Muhammadi Sayeda Aisha Mosque Sulayman Pasha Mosque Museums Al-Gawhara Palace Amir Taz Palace Carriage Museum Egyptian National Military Museum Gayer-Anderson Museum Others Amir Alin Aq Palace Bayt Al-Razzaz Palace Cairo Citadel Palace of Yashbak Sabil-Kuttab-Wakala of Sultan Qa'it Bay Tomb of Salar and Sangar-al-Gawli

 

Bayt el Suhaymi

 

 Bayt means "house" in Arabic, so this is a historic, restored house. The oldest section was built by Abdel Wahab el Tablawy in 1648 A.D. The house was purchased in 1796 by Sheikh Ahmed as-Suhaymi, who extended it by integrating several of the adjacent houses. Nowadays Bayt el Suhaymi, especially after its restoration process, is the best example of a rich private house dating to seventeenth century Egypt. The house also demonstrates a lot about the art of the period and how people used to live in the Ottoman period

 Bayt El Suhaymi is the first building on the left hand side of Darb El Asafar, a narrow corridor in Fatimid, Cairo. From the outside, the building seems to be in a very good state. This is because it was restored in 1997 under the auspices of the Arab Fund for Economic Development as part of the Bayt El Suhaymi Area Documentation and Restoration. Many mashrabeya windows, which I have become fond of, can be seen from outside the house.

 Once you enter the house, you are inside the sahn of the house. The sahn is an interior open space in the middle of the house, a courtyard. It is usually a rectangular or square shape. It is used to gain fresh air in the house, and in the morning some simple activities once took place in the sahn. In the middle of this open hall, there is a small and very healthy garden full of small trees and palms. The house was built around this area and many brown mashrabeya windows can be seen all around it on the upper floors. At the end of this hall, there is a place for sitting beside some windows where residents of the house would relax in the summer.

  small rooms with huge wooden doors. They were used for servants to stay in and cook or do anything needed in the house. One of the rooms to the left had a fascinating mashrabeya screen with small windows in it to enable the people inside the room to view the sahn.

 At the end of this corridor full of small rooms, there is the first guest room or salamlek. It was used by El Suhaymi to welcome his male guests. It is a small hall that has brown wooden cupboards all around the left part with an alabaster table in the middle and many beautifully decorated carpets on the floor. To the right, there is a sitting area with a small Mashrabeya screen. This hall is a good example of the salamlek, or public place, as opposed to the haremlek, thedepressing. The ceilings in the past were works of art. private place. Most of the Salamlek area is on the ground floor, while the haremlek is on the upper floor. This was because in the Islamic culture, house were "Sakan" a word deprived from "Sekoon" which means quietness and privacy. This notion was well respected during the archaic Islamic period.

 The next hall is the summer salamlek guest room. It was built at the end of the corridor and overlooks the street in order to benefit from the cool air during the summer. Most of the spaces within the house are not designed around functionality, as houses are today, but around climatic considerations. This hall has one of the most remarkable mashrabeya screens in the house, overlooking the street.It is a very big screen with three different decorative shapes and stained glass at the very top of the screen. People would sit on the pillows on the floor and chat in the summer. There are also the wooden brown cupboards all around just like the first guest room.
the balconies which was also used on hot days. During the heat of the day, shaded courtyards, balconies and roofs became the living areas, while in the cool of the night, the family would move indoors. Many people even today continue to live like this, particularly in more rural areas. This balcony overlooks the sahn and the whole house around it.The seating was on pillows on the floor as well. One significant aspect of this balcony is the Islamic decorations on the walls. There are many Qur'an verses around the balcony written in a gold color with a brown background. The balcony is also a wonderful place to view the mashrabeya windows of the house from outside, and view the open air hall.

 

The interesting thing in this hall is it's high and very pretty decorated ceiling which allowed the warmer air to rise and then to be swept away by the north facing maq'ad (wind scoops) in the upper walls, which caught the prevailing breezes and circulated the cool air throughout the house. There is also the charming wooden carved dome of the hall. The ceilings of these houses are usually very interesting. It makes the ceilings we live in these days seem boring and depressing. The ceilings in the past were works of art.
Afterwards, I entered another hall of the haremlek area with more unique mashrabeya screens. The pieces of wood in these screens are designed to be very close to each other, making it impossible for anyone from outside to see through it while enabling the women of the house to look at the street and the sahn. This room was used for women to welcome their guests and friends. Most of the room is decorated with brown and dark red colors, which seemed very feminine and suited the women's section. This area is restricted to women and young children. When a male child got older, it was preferred that he would not enter the room. This hall contained some objects that the women used, such as alabaster dishes and plates. There are two high, stained glass windows that are very attractive.

The next room I entered is another haremlek section where the women would rest. It is a smaller hall with less light. The whole atmosphere in this room is relaxing. The room has many
pillows on the floor for women to rest on and many cupboards to hold their necessities.many cupboards to hold their This room, in particular, was strictly for women. No men, other than sons and the father, were allowed inside.
This room, in particular, was strictly for women. No men, other than sons and the father, were allowed inside.
The bathroom section is the most interesting place in the house. It is divided into three sections. The first section is the cold water section. It is a very small room with a wooden cupboard inside where they used to keep the cold water in a huge container. This room has no ceiling so that the gold wind could come and cool down the water in the cupboard.
The second section of the bathroom is the massage section. It is also a very small room with only a big wooden bed to the right. It has the most amazing ceiling I have ever seen, with small, star shaped openings in it which are covered with blue, orange, and white glass. When the sun light enters the room through these openings, it is like looking at the stars in the sky on a very clear night. I have seen massage halls in five stars hotels and in health clubs all over Egypt, but nothing like this room. Having a massage in this room while looking at the sky would be like gazing into heaven.
The third section of the bathroom is the hot water section. It has the same amazing ceiling as the massage room. In the middle, there is a water tap, and to the right there is a big container that was used for keeping hot water. There is also a cupboard behind the tap that was used to keep the bathing items. After the tour, I was told by the guide that this room was used as a sauna. They used to let the hot water fall on the floor, where three small openings in the wall enabled the water flow out of the room. There is also a toilet section, which is like most of the "Balady" toilets we still have in some places in Egypt. It is just a small hall in the ground that takes the waste into pipes and out of the house.
The last section I entered was the main rest and sleeping room of Al Suhaymi and his wife. Some people call this room the blue hall because of its many blue decorations. On the right hand side, there is a sitting area with pillows beside the many mashrabeya screens spread around the room. The room is ornamented with the most elegant blue tiles on the walls. This room is really suited to a king, with all its the marvelous decorations. Even the mashrabeya screens in
This room, in particular, was strictly for women. No men, other than sons and the father, were allowed inside.
In the middle, there is a table which was used for drinking coffee, and the coffee jar and mugs are still there. There are also a lot of blue, decorated plates in the room. They are atop the many brown wooden cupboards that once again fill this room. There are also some plates that were actually used for food, and not just decoration.

The ceiling is designed in a Persian style, which makes it look as though there are steps above one's head. It is similar to the sleeping room in the Gayer Anderson house. There are many old lanterns in the room, hanging from the high ceiling. One of them is very unique, looking like a tower of lights.
There is also a small room that one may enter from the main bedroom of the house. This room only contains two very strange objects. I'm not sure if they are made of wood or alabaster. There is an interesting myth that if a woman wants to become pregnant, she would circle these two objects seven times, and then God will send her a baby. It is a very strange concept, but Egypt in the 17th century had a lot of strange myths and legends.
This was the last place to visit in Bayt El Suhaymi because the third floor is in ill repair and nobody is allowed there. Also, the guide told me that it is empty and doesnt have any decorations or furniture. So now it was time to visit the garden of the house, which is next to the sahn.

The garden is big and full of very beautiful greenery. I believe it is being watered daily and it is well maintained. To the left, there are pictures of the house before and during the restoration period. The house was in bad shape, but due to the efforts the Egyptian government, it is now very elegant and as it was in the past. Above these pictures there is a new mashrabeya screen designed by the artists of the restoration. It records the restoration that took place between 1997 and 1999.
The rooms around the garden were mainly used by servants for sleeping and for cooking meals for the family. In the garden, there is a very attractive summer dome that was used for shade. It has the same ceiling I fell in love with in the bathrooms. There is also the old waterwheel of the house known as a "Sakia". A donkey would have been tied to this waterwheel to enable the circulation of the water. Beside it, there is the place where they once milled crops to make food, known as a "Mathana". This mathana looked usable and the guide informed me that indeed it is.
I also enjoyed the very old trees that are spread all around the garden. Some of these trees are as old as the house itself. They give the garden a unique appearance.

After an amusing visit to the Suhaymi House, as I was leaving Darb El Asafar, I noticed to my right an amazing old mosque that looked different than other mosques in the area. It is designed like the Mohamed Ali Mosque in the Citadel, in the Turkish style. I found out that it was the Mosque of Suleiman Aga El-Silahdar which was built in 1839. It has appealing decoration on it's walls, as the Turkish style in mosques is very attractive.
The thing that really grabbed my attention was the minaret of the mosque, which looked like a sharp pencil and didnt have many decorations around it like most others in Egypt. Mosque-Sabil of Sulayman Agha al-Silahdar or Mosque-Sabil-Kuttab of Sulayman Agha al-Silahdar (Arabic: مسجد وسبيل سليمان أغا السلحدار‎) is a complex of mosque, sabil and kuttab established during the era of Muhammad Ali Pasha in Islamic Cairo, the historic medieval district of Cairo, Egypt. It is located at the beginning of Burjouan alley of the famed Muizz Street.On the other side it faces the extension of Al-Nahasin Street leading to the Bab Al-Shaareya square.
Wikala of Bazaraa

Wikala of Bazaraa, is a 17th-century commercial building in the Gamaliya area of Fatimid Cairo. It took six years of painstaking refurbishment to restore the building, originally designed to house merchants passing through Cairo and including storehouses for their goods.

       The Wikala will now serve as a centre for art and environment-related crafts. In addition, plans are being made for the Wikala to host craftspeople from all over the world for specific periods of time to display and sell their products

The Wikala of Bazaraa stands on Al-Tumbukshiya Road, off Gamaliya Street in an area of Fatimid Cairo that the Ministry of Culture is planning to restore and refurbish one section at a time. The ultimate aim is to transform the area into an open-air museum.

  The Wikala of Bazaraa Activities:

·         a place to display different commodities

·         a place for the merchants residence in upper villas

·         a place for conducting commercial transactions between merchants during their gathering in the courtyard of the Wikala

·         used for the distribution of goods to the markets

 Causes of deterioration of Wikala of Bazaraa:

·         Misuse of the Wikala merchants for long periods

·         The heterogeneity of construction materials and faulty restorations by the Wikala merchants

·         Environmental pollution caused by population density and harmful activities

·         Poor sanitation and water leakage from the drainage systems in the area.

·         Leaving  the Wikala  for a long period of time without restoration and maintenance

·         Decomposing  the mortar of building and construction .

·         The bad impact of the October 1992 earthquake on construction of the Wikala

·         The Cracks and separation of most of the architectural blocks that making up the monument

 Components of the restoration project:

·         Securing all elements inside and outside Wikala

·         Preparing the studies and integrated researches to implement the restoration project

·         Restoration of all walls architecturally

·         Restoration of the stone arches of the ground floor stores

·         Removing and re- installation and treatment of all floors and stairs

·         Creating a new sanitation network for the Wikala.

·         Restoration of all Mashrabiyas and wooden works of the Wikala