Like any historic building this too has a story behind it and the traces of different changes it underwent is a fascinating tale, as Agnieszka Dobrowolska* discovers This poetic verse, carved in beautiful calligraphy on a marble panel attached to the façade of the sabil (public water tap linked to a cistern) of Lady Nafisa Al-Bayda, proclaims the virtues of the woman who ordered its construction in 1796. It praises, in sophisticated rhyme, the founder and her charitable establishment; but few people can read without difficulty the intricately interlaced script on the panel. For people living at the time when the sabil was constructed, the message it carried was clear. Contemporaries would know, for instance, that the stylised motif reminiscent of a heart and two naked woman's breasts that can be found on the bronze window grilles indicated that the founder was a woman. Nowadays, the message that the building conveys can be approached by historians, conservators, art historians and other specialists, but is usually lost on most visitors, not only casual passers- by but even interested travellers or people from the local neighbourhood. The purpose of the permanent display recently opened in the sabil-kuttab (a two-storey building with a public tap below and a Quranic school above) Nafisa Al-Bayda is to let the building tell its story to anyone who wishes to listen, both the local Arabic-speaking community and foreign visitors. And a fascinating story it is, because the building is inextricably related to the extraordinary life story of a woman who found herself at the centre of the momentous events that reshaped Egypt forever. Even by the standards of Cairo, where throughout the city's history of more than a millennium long the extraordinary always seems to have been a matter of course, Nafisa was a noteworthy personage. Who was Lady Nafisa? She was brought to Cairo as a slave. It is not known when or where she was born: in Anatolia? On the slopes of the Caucasus? In the Crimean steppe? Or somewhere else? The name that she was given in Egypt, which means "White Jewel", is the only clue as to what she might have looked like. The story of her life shows that she was noble in character, generous, talented and intelligent. She was able to read and write Turkish and Arabic, and she probably knew French as well. We can imagine that she must have been attractive, because her first master not only manumitted her, but also married her. He was a powerful Mameluke, the de facto ruler of Egypt at the time, Ali Bey Al-Kabir, whose rout of swift-moving Bedouin raiders in defence of a caravan of pilgrims once earned him the nickname "the Cloud Catcher". But these were turbulent times. Ali Bey met his end in 1773 in one of the many battles between power-hungry Mamelukes; slain by Murad Bey, whose commander -- who had been a Mameluke of Ali, but rebelled against his former master -- promised him the hand of Nafisa if he would kill her powerful husband. The marriage followed immediately. One can easily imagine passion and romance behind politics, intrigue and betrayal, but such stories must be left to the reader's imagination. What is certain is that Nafisa brought a rich inheritance into the new marriage. She and her new husband lived a life of luxury. Houses, palaces, commercial buildings, Murad's army of 400 Mamelukes and a fleet on the Nile, 56 women and two eunuchs in Nafisa's private entourage; Murad's household lacked nothing. Lady Nafisa, like other elite women, was the mistress of the household, but was also an ally and adviser to her husband. She was not only powerful but also independent, and had vast property in her own name. Among the many houses, gardens, and other properties she owned was a wekala or urban caravanserai located on the main street of Fatimid Cairo, just inside the southern gate of Al-Qahira. In 1796 she remodelled it and gave it a fashionable new costume: a façade in the modern style of the day. In the corner of the building she inserted a sabil-kuttab, which dispensed free drinking water as a charity from its huge windows with ornate window grilles and offered free elementary education in the arcaded loggia on the upper floor. The location was cleverly chosen. Until today the sabil-kuttab is immediately visible to anyone entering the city from the south. It has always attracted attention of travellers, writers and visitors alike. The slim rounded façade adorned with marble columns, geometric motifs masterfully carved on its limestone walls, and elaborate wooden eaves is not only visually attractive, but also tells us much about the taste of its founder. It is especially beautiful on summer afternoons when sunlight slides on the façade, underlining the carved decoration. It is among the masterpieces of late Ottoman architecture in Cairo. The huge wekala to which the sabil-kuttab was attached was a large-scale commercial enterprise, and Nafisa could expect that her investment would bring a healthy return. She was not able to enjoy it peacefully for long, however. Just two years after the sabil-kuttab was built, Napoleon Bonaparte's troops invaded Egypt. Nafisa's husband Murad Bey commanded the Mameluke army that countered the French, but was defeated at the Battle of the Pyramids and retreated to Upper Egypt where he waged a guerrilla campaign. Nafisa remained in Cairo in a precarious position that demanded a great deal of diplomatic skill, as well as cunning wit, determination and cold blood -- a heavy burden indeed on a woman. She protected her husband's vast estates and the interests of the Mameluke households. At the same time she maintained a courteous relationship with the French administration, even nursing wounded French soldiers at her house. She invited Napoleon Bonaparte for a dinner and was presented on the occasion with a gift of a magnificent watch encrusted with diamonds. Meanwhile Nafisa remained in secret contact with her husband, who was fighting Bonaparte's troops in the south. On at least one occasion she signalled from the roof of her house in Ezbekiya to Murad, who was watching from the top of the Great Pyramid at Giza. Apparently the air in Cairo was much less polluted and clearer than it is nowadays. Her efforts were successful, for she managed to negotiate a treaty between Murad and Bonaparte. But this success was short-lived. Murad died of plague in 1801, and soon afterwards the French withdrew from Egypt. Nafisa's relations with Bonaparte had their ups and down. She had to pay a huge ransom equivalent to a million francs for the right to keep her household. She included the diamond-encrusted watch as a part of it; Napoleon gave it to his mistress. In spite of such ugly gestures, even after he left Egypt to seek glory in Paris Bonaparte declared that he "would forever be a friend" and gave orders to French agents in Cairo to protect Nafisa. Although her sympathies for the French were well known, the shrewd lady managed to gain the protection of the British who briefly replaced them as occupiers. When the Ottoman sultan reasserted his control over Egypt, Nafisa continued steadfastly to protect the Mameluke beys and their households from the new regime, which was hostile towards them -- just as she had done under the French occupation. She was known as the "Mother of the Mamelukes". Ottoman control was only nominal, however, since the new governor, Mohamed Ali, soon became virtually independent. Although Nafisa continued to be a respected lady, her fortune dwindled. She died impoverished in 1816 in a house built for her by her first husband, and was buried near him. Her sabil-kuttab remains as a lasting monument to her memory, but its fortunes were as changing as those of its founder. The sabil was taken out of use in the early 20th century when piped water was brought to the district. In the 1950s the state educational system replaced traditional Quranic schools and the building was no longer used as a school, although many older people in the neighbourhood still remember attending classes there. The abandoned building with its roof partially missing, its stairs collapsed, and its walls crumbling, quickly filled up with debris and was on the verge of collapse. This was the situation in 1995 when, with funding from the United States Agency for International Development, the American Research Center in Egypt in collaboration with the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities commenced its conservation project. The full architectural conservation, finished in 1998, was the first of a series of ARCE's conservation projects in historic Cairo. One of these was the conservation of the façade and gateway of Nafisa Al-Bayda's wekala. Now the neighbourhood, exceptionally rich in important historic monuments, has been given a new lease of life by numerous conservation efforts by different Egyptian agencies and by ARCE. The permanent exhibition in the sabil-kuttab of Nafisa Al-Bayda was created as an ARCE project funded by USAID. It was officially opened at a small ceremony on 29 March 2005 attended by Egyptian and American officials, the project team and the inspectors in charge of the monuments, and also by local residents eager to watch any special event as they have ever been since the neighbourhood was established almost 1,000 years ago. The building can now tell its story again, as well as that of its founder, whose career from a slave girl to a powerful, independent, clever and respected woman will captivate the attention of anyone who listens. The exhibition unveils to visitors some pieces of the life of a lady so described in a legal document of 1791: Exalted among the veiled, glory of honourable ladies, crown of the illumined ones who carry the sublime veil behind the forbidding curtain of seclusion, the splendid hidden jewel, the flowering well-guarded gemstone: Lady Nafisa. * The writer has worked on many archaeological and conservation projects in Egypt, including a number in historic Cairo for the American Research Center in Egypt. She is a co-author with Khaled Fahmy of Mohamed Ali Pasha and his Sabil published by The American University in Cairo Press.
