CAIRO - A marvellous place that reflects the history and beauty of Muezz li-Din Allah Street in Islamic Cairo is Beit el-Seheimy, which stands on the corner with Darb al-Asfar (yellow lane), where its main entrance is located. The house, resembling a mansion in Islamic style, is situated in the Gamaliya district, which features in the novels, including the famous Cairo Trilogy, of Egypt's most celebrated writer, the late Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz. Beit el-Seheimy attracts many visitors, as this wonderful and rare extant domestic building is regarded as a perfect example of the style of architecture, décor and design during the Mamluk era, with later Ottoman refinements and extensions. The first occupant who built the core house was Abdel-Wahab el -Tablawy in 1648 AD. Then, 53 years later it was purchased by Ismail Shalabi, a trader and Sheikh Mohamed Qasabi from Tanta resided in it. The final occupant was Mohamed Amin el-Seheimy, a Turkish Sheikh at Al-Azhar who stayed there until his death in 1929. The house was purchased in 1930 by the Egyptian Government at a cost of LE 6,000 and its restoration cost LE1,000. It suffered some damage in the 1992 earthquake and was extensively and immaculately restored in the 1990s. Beit el-Seheimy occupies an area of around 2000 square metres, consisting of a series of rambling halls, corridors and courtyards to enter its various rooms. On entering the house, because of its traditional means of entry design, the visitor gains access through a right-angled passage, which ensured complete privacy, leading into a large courtyard. The house plan, influenced by Ottoman architecture, allocated on the ground floor the salamlek, a place reserved for men. It consists of three sections: in the middle there is the dorqa'a signifying the entrance of a covered courtyard, whose floor is designed with colourful marble. The ceiling contains a ventilated dome allowing fresh air to circulate. On the right and left there are two iwans, a Persian word meaning a rectangular space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. The salamlek also included the takhtabush (a covered outdoor sitting area with benches) which opens onto the courtyard. The walls are covered with Lebanese cedar wood and, directly under the ceiling are written Qur'anic verses. Ihab Rashed, the antiquities inspector at Beit el-Seheimy, provided interesting information about the salamlek hall. Above the iwans, there are many wooden cupboards, one of them is actually a concealed door to a stairway, from which the women could come from the second floor to listen in to the conversation or see important guests, in accordance with the mores of privacy at that time. On the second floor is the haramlek, a place reserved for women. It is very atmospheric through the effect of the stained glass and magnificent painted ceilings combined with the dappled light from the windows covered in mashrabiya (wooden latticework). Large wooden screens overlook the courtyard, which filters sunlight and cool breezes into the rooms, as well as allowing the women to observe the goings-on below without themselves being seen. The first hall, which is without any ornamentation, is the waiting room, for guests, which leads to a room called the winter hall adjoined by the kitchen. Then there is the summer hall containing extensive mashrabiya with wonderful floral embellishment on its ceiling. This leads to the dining room, in which ‘Ya Allah' written in old Turkish, when the language used the Arabic script, is engraved on the wall. On this floor there is a room for women to give birth in, where the woman stayed after the birth and received special care while recovering. A luxurious feature is the hammam, the Turkish bath, located in two rooms; one has a wooden bed for massage, while the other has a small basin with two taps, believed to act as a sauna. The superb colourful stained glass ceiling adds beauty to the bathroom. As el-Seheimy was a sheikh in Al-Azhar, the renowned mosque in Islamic Cairo, whose construction was commissioned by Al-Muezz li-Din Allah of the Fatimid Caliphate for the newly established capital city in 970 AD. It is customary, therefore, that Sheikh el-Seheimy's house included a room for a kuttab. The kuttab is a traditional method of education in Egypt and Muslim majority countries, in which a sheikh teaches a group of students who sit in front of him on the ground. The curriculum includes Islam, but focuses mainly on memorising the Qur'an. The green, spacious and well-planted garden, an ideal place for the visitor to rest a while, includes a well, water-wheel and a grinding mill. Nowadays, the Cultural Development Fund, affiliated to the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, regularly holds events in Beit el-Seheimy to bring life to the historic house. On Sunday evenings, the cultural folk arts flagship the Nile Troupe, an ensemble of musician, singers and dancers, present their deservedly popular (with locals and visitors alike) show, and on Fridays there is a special event for children, such as aragouz (puppet show). Beit el-Seheimy, located in Darb el-Asfar, off Muezz li-Din Allah Street, Gamaliya, Islamic Cairo, is open daily from 9 am to 5 pm. Entry tickets for non-Egyptians cost LE30, but admittance is usually free for evening concerts, when access to the house is restricted to the performance area.
