www.touregypt.net By Seif Kamel Most of the tour programs in Egypt include a visit to the Khan el Khalili market, one of the largest and most historic bazaars in Egypt, as well as Africa and the Middle East.
However, very few programs include visits to the other Islamic monuments in the Fatimid area next to Khan el Khalili, although there are a lot of interesting places. One of these is 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. After visiting the Gayer Anderson House last week, I had to visit Bayt el Suhaymi because suddenly found myself to be a fan of Arab Islamic art.
After looking at some maps, I knew that the Suhaymi House is located on Mu'iz Le Din Allah Street in Fatimid, Cairo (a section of Old Islamic Cairo). At first, I thought this street was like any other street, with cars, traffic and many people going here and there. But I soon found out it was only a small narrow lane near the Khan el Khalili Market.
Mu'iz Street is a rich place for Islamic monuments. It includes the Madrasa and Mausoleum of Sultan Nasser Mohamed, Qaser Beshtak, and the Madrasa of Sultan Barquq. These are only examples. There are a lot of other Islamic monuments in the area and on Mui'z Street in particular.
In the middle of the street, I saw an ancient mosque that grabbed my attention. It was Al Aqmar Mosque and it is very old. It was restored in 1396 in the reign of Sultan al Zahir Barquq, so long ago, that even with the restoration, it looks very ancient today. However, it has a lot of amazing Islamic decorations. The mosque is also called the Grey Mosque as it is famous for the use of that color.
After being lost along the street and its monuments for some time, a young man heard me asking about the way to the Suhaymi House. He told me that he lived beside it. After showing me the way, I was in front of the gates of the house. People are surprisingly friendly like this in Cairo, especially to tourists.
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.
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