This is an old house built according to Ottoman style (The Ottoman is a Turkish dynasty founded by Osman the First. Thus, Ottoman relates to the Ottoman Empire or its people, language, or culture. The Ottomans ruled Egypt from AD 1517 to 1805).
( The house consists of two sections: a southern section that was constructed by Sheikh Abdel Wahab al-Tablawy in AD 1648 (1058 AH), and a northern section, constructed by Haji Ismail Shalaby in AD 1796 (1211 AH).
The latter joined the two parts, thus converting them into a single house. This house was named ?The House of Al-Sihaymi? after its last owner, Muhammad Amin Al-Sihaymi, the Sheikh of the Turkish balcony in the Al-Azhar Mosque, who died in 1928.
The entrance is by means of a passageway that leads to the doorway of the house. The purpose of the passage is to screen the interior from outsiders.
Inside the house there are several halls, each consisting of two iwans (open-porches). Between each pair of iwans there is a hall; some of the halls contain marble fountains.
Some of the walls of the halls are covered with wooden panels, others are covered with porcelain; the floors are marble. Some walls are embellished with verses from the poem The Garment (Al Burda), written by Al-Busseiri.
In the Al-Sihaymi house, there is a central courtyard or garden, which is surrounded by the dwelling units and the summer dais (raised platforms) for the owners of the house and their male visitors. The ceiling of the dais is decorated with floral and geometrical designs.
The halls on the upper floor lead to the courtyard through lattice windows of turned wood, which are known as Mishrabiyyah, and are considered to be among the marvels of Islamic art. Women use such windows to look down at the courtyard from the women's halls (haramlik).
This house is considered to be a brilliant example of Islamic architecture and is among the few such buildings from the Ottoman era that still remain in Egypt.
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