It is a little over two hundred years since the Rosetta stone was unearthed in the Delta town. Jenny Jobbins looks at the town's other gem, its architecture, now being restored after years of neglect Rosetta's elegant Ottoman houses are a memory of the days when this was the Egyptian centre of a wealthy Mediterranean trade network photos: Ayman Ibrahim Rosetta stands near the mouth of the western branch of the Nile on sands that over time have shifted in and out in the relentless battle between the river and the sea. The town borders a beautiful stretch of the river, which here is so wide and still it resembles a lake. It is known as the city of a million palms, and they spread in every direction on both sides of the river. This branch of the Nile is one of only two fingers which remain of the seven which ran through the Delta in ancient times, when it was known as the Bolbitine branch. Of the whole Mediterranean coast it is only here and in Damietta, at the mouth of the eastern branch, that we come face to face with the river, the lifeline of Egypt. One wonders why Rosetta was one of the few towns founded on the more agreeable west bank of the Nile which, away from the direct glare of the sun, is always more pleasant than the eastern side, where Aswan, Luxor and Cairo were built. There has been a settlement here since prehistoric times: the present name derives from the ancient Egyptian Rhyt, meaning "the common people," which became Rikhit in Coptic, Rashid in Arabic, and was later Europeanised into Rosette, or Rosetta. Driving into town from the highway, you might easily imagine you were in a European country lane which has somehow become thickly shaded with casuarinas and attractive, if unfamiliar, shrubs. No wonder that many earlier travelers chose to settle here. Some of the trees shading the way were different in the days when Rosetta was a grand port, for eucalyptus and casuarinas did not arrive in Egypt until the last century, but the grassy, sandy lane still has a character of its own. Rosetta is one of the major agricultural towns of the Delta. A huge rice mill confronts you as you drive into town, to which virtually all the rice of the Delta comes to be hulled before distribution throughout the country. The chaff is used in local brick making and as animal fodder. Dates form another major local industry, and every part of the plant is eaten, husked or pulped, or used in crate-making. In the late 1980s Rosetta was the subject of a study by the United Nations environmental agency's Mediterranean Action Plan, designed to protect and rehabilitate selected historic settlements around the coast. Ancient Rosetta was once the principal port of Egypt, but it declined after Alexandria was founded in 332 BC, and remained neglected for centuries. It enjoyed a revival in the Coptic period, and flourished under the Fatimids, before Alexandria's new trade with Italy forced it into further decline. The Mamelukes showed an interest in the port, and Qait Bey built a fortress, in the rubble of which Napoleon's troops, rebuilding it in 1799, found the Rosetta Stone, which is now in the British Museum. Like many other pieces of Pharaonic and Graeco-Roman material, it had been reused in a later structure. While the Islamic town is believed to date back to the 9th century, Rosetta's architectural core belongs to the Ottoman period, and dates from 1520 to 1800. With the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517, Rosetta found itself the nearest Egyptian port to the capital, Istanbul. By the 17th century it was the grandest city after Cairo, and to this period belong most of the historic monuments of the town. The population included Turks, Copts, Nubians, Greeks, and assorted European merchants, and was enlivened by a slave market where young Georgians were auctioned. We are told that the town was built without gates or walls, but that its tortuous streets were woven as a labyrinth to confuse and confound invaders. Winding your way through these streets, you will pass all the famous Rosetta houses and wrecks of houses, and those whose older origins are given away by the foundations or a lintel or an arrangement of windows. The town's other claim to fame was (and still is, some say) the beauty of its women, to whom many a French merchant succumbed, choosing exile in Egypt and conversion to Islam to be with his bride. Not that he failed to make a profit in the process: one merchant, Jean Miro, amassed such a fortune that he was able to build one of the most celebrated of the period houses of Rosetta. After Mohammad Ali cut the Mahmudiya Canal in 1819, taking water from the Rosetta branch near Fuwa and thus linking Alexandria to Cairo, Rosetta's population dropped from 35,000 (at the beginning of the 19th century Alexandria's was only 3,000) to 15,000 in 1848. (It's population tiday is more than 70,000.) However, it is recorded that at the end of the 19th century the city still boasted 2,300 houses, 600 shops, 52 flour mills, 30 hotels, 25 mosques, 13 oil presses, and 10 rice mills, as well as other industries. Of these old houses, only 22 still stand, although the number of old mosques has risen to 31 owing to the rebuilding of some that had been abandoned. All the listed hoses were purchased by the Egyptian Antiquities Department in 1951, though this did not save the most beautiful, the Bayt al- Fatari, which has disappeared. Indeed, forty houses were listed as late as 1963. A salvage campaign was mounted by the Egyptian Antiquities Organisation in 1978, which administered first aid to the dying buildings. Late 1985 saw the commencement of the external and internal rehabilitation of each one. There is still a very long way to go, but the pride and endeavour of many local inhabitants gives rise to guarded optimism for the future of the monuments. The Rosetta houses were built between the 16th and 18th centuries by rich merchants and burghers engaged in trade with Europe. The houses were built to serve the dual purpose of home and fortress, and each house followed a similar plan. The listed houses are in varying stages of renovation, and the majority may be viewed only from the outside. This was also the experience of earlier travelers to Rosetta, who seldom entered the houses and therefore often made confusing and inaccurate observations. The houses were often described as being four or five stories tall, but this stemmed from their having a double row of windows on the top floor; in fact, the houses have either three or four floors. The distinctive red and black bricks of the exterior are exceptionally strong and rigid, and the heavy doors were designed to be secured against intruders. The ground floor was for the running of the business and the house: it contained the cistern (filled daily by a water carrier), stables, and storehouses. The second floor was used by the men of the house and contained reception rooms and a kitchen. The third floor was the women's quarters and hammam (bath), complete with hot and cold piped water, while the fourth, if there was one, was used in the summer as breezy sleeping quarters. One curious feature is that these houses often stood in pairs, many of which still remain. While each is listed as a separate house, it would seem that one was built as slave quarters side by side with the main house, rather than upstairs/downstairs as in the European fashion. The houses became uninhabitable for practical purposes with the advent of social and economic changes -- the suppression of slavery, the emancipation of women, and the disappearance or impoverishment of the class that built them. Today's taste calls for modern comforts and conveniences which function without an army of sprightly servants. The high steps of the staircases would suddenly seem very uncomfortable to someone forced to do his or her own housekeeping. Most of the town's shops and workshops are still concentrated in the historic centre. A new corniche runs beside the river, but other streets are mostly unpaved and unsuitable for traffic -- though, sadly, this does not prevent vehicles forcing access. Apart from traffic, the other problem in Rosetta is garbage, which is strewn everywhere. And beware for, wet or dry, it comes straight out of the windows overhead. Rosetta, like Egypt, is full of paradox: jean-clad young visitors from Cairo or Alexandria strolling arm in arm pass men in local garb of black or white loose trousers, shirt, sash, waistcoat, and cap or turban. You may even spot someone wearing a tarboosh, which are still made here. The town is slowly becoming accustomed to tourists. Rosetta is within comfortable driving distance of Alexandria. However, it cannot be fully explored in a day, and if you do not mind basic accommodation there are clean and adequate modest hotels. As for food, there are a few eateries in the bazaar serving ful and taamiya, shish kebab, or chicken. Most of the stalls have tables inside. You can buy the famous local blackened fish at frying times on the corniche near Gumhuriya Square, or order it at the river front cafés, which will fetch it and serve it up with bread and salad, charging for the fish by the kilo. There are also sandwich bars. In fact, food is plentiful in Rosetta and the bazaar full of excellent fruit and vegetables; there is also a lively fish market in Port Said Street. The bazaar opens late in the morning and, except for the fish market, which remains open while the catch lasts, closes again during the afternoon. In the evening it springs to life and the sight of tourists strolling by delights the townspeople, who, although they rarely speak a word of a foreign language, are immensely helpful, friendly and kind. But don't ask where you can get a drink: there is no beer, or otherwise, to be had in town. Many traditional crafts continue, and you may pause to watch palm fronds being woven into baskets in a street near the Dumaqsis mosque. The local fishing industry, however, was severely hit by the construction of the Aswan High Dam. The loss of the nutrients which formerly flowed in the silt-rich water has reduced the daily catch from 300 tons in 1970 to about 20 tons today. ...the restored Azouz bathhouse img src="ros9.jpg" width="286" height="198"Rosetta's traditional crafts" border=1 vspace=1 hspace=1 Making palm-frond baskets is one of Rosetta's traditional crafts and the sadly ruined Zaghlul mosque
