More than 20 frescos have been uncovered in the newly inaugurated Beit Al-Sitt Wassila, reports Nevine El-Aref Last Sunday, as the majority of Al-Azhar residents sought respite from the deadening evening heat, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, Cairo Governor Abdel-Azim Wazir and Zahi Hawass secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities were among the officials inaugurating Beit Al-Sitt Wassila following a five-year restoration programme. The house, which had suffered centuries of neglect, has now been reborn in the heart of historic Cairo. Beit Al-Sitt Wassila counts among Cairo's most magnificent domestic buildings. As early as 1895 plans were afoot to restore the house which over the centuries had lost two of its original four storeys. Most of the original mashrabiya had gone missing, along with the marble fountain that once stood in an open courtyard, and the stable block. The bathroom fittings -- which included an early prototype of the jacuzzi -- had also been stripped. The building, which has suffered from massive environmental pollution, was badly damaged during the 1992 earthquake. Sections of the original façade were missing and the original entrance to the house was buried below street level. The walls were crumbling as a result of the rising water table and the derelict edifice had become home to drug dealers or else was used as an unofficial garbage tip. By the time the house was added to the list of the Historic Cairo Rehabilitation Project in 2000 most of the windows, doors and internal ceilings had collapsed. "Restoring Beit Al-Sitt Wassila was reminiscent of the operation to salvage the temples of Nubia in the 1960s," says Ayman Abdel-Moneim, supervisor of the Historic Cairo Rehabilitation Project. "Bringing this 17th century edifice back to life was not an easy task. We were dealing with a fragile building of unique historical importance, and most of the architectural elements were missing. A huge amount of research had to be undertaken before we could begin actual work on the house. The restoration team scoured the national archives and international libraries looking for clues, and finally unearthed evidence of the house's original construction in the Paris Public Archive," he added. While cleaning the walls of the first floor maqaad al-sayfi, the summer reception room, restorers uncovered a fresco three metres wide depicting the entrance to a fortified city. The scene includes a look-out tower which leads to a green space surrounded by vaulted buildings. "The restoration involved as much excavation as conservation, and included the discovery of significant mural paintings," says Abdel-Moneim. More than 20 murals were eventually found as restorers stripped the layers of paint applied by the house's most recent residents. Urban landscapes with soaring towers and floral compositions were discovered, along with a pilgrimage scene depicting the Kaaba covered with cloth of gold. Restorers have identified some of the well-preserved scenes, including a 19th century Istanbul street scene. The frescos, says Abdel-Moneim, add a great deal to our knowledge of Islamic art history. It is the first time that such a large number of wall paintings have been discovered in a domestic building. The only comparable discovery was in the 1980s, when Bernard Maury, director of the French team that was restoring the adjacent Al-Harawi House, paid a visit to Beit Al-Sitt Wassila, where he accidentally uncovered 14 murals. The paintings were carefully removed from the walls and placed in the Citadel storehouse and only recently reinstalled in their original location. A two-page talisman, wrapped in green fabric, was found within the western wall of the house, testifying to the love of the house's original owner, Lotfi, for his wife Safiya. Excavation inside the house revealed the remains of a water fountain, a mill and the tunnels that were used to pump water in and out of the old-fashioned jacuzzi. Culture Minister Farouk Hosni announced that the house would be converted into a cultural centre along the lines of its neighbours Beit Al-Harawi and Zeinab Khatoun. The entire alleyway, he said, will be rehabilitated under the Historic Cairo Rehabilitation Project, first launched by the ministry seven years ago. Restoration of 76 of the original 142 monuments listed by the project is now complete, he said, with 33 buildings ready for opening on Al-Muezz Street alone. Twenty newly restored mosques, including Al-Selehdar, Farag Ibn Barquq, Al-Nasser Ibn Qalawun and Umm Al-Ghulam, will be inaugurated during Ramadan. In November the area will also see the opening of Egypt's first textile museum, displaying carpets and fabrics from several eras in addition to the tools used in their making. Throughout the ambitious rehabilitation project, says Hosni, the ministry was concerned to cause as little disruption to traditional activities as possible. "Such an area without skilled craftsmen would be a desert and wherever possible we have worked to accommodate the activities of artisans as long as they do not compromise the monuments. Some activities, though, have had to be moved, including a pickle factory and an aluminum workshop that had dumped a great deal of industrial waste along the walls of the house."
