Bayt al-Sinnari

Last updated
Bayt al-Sinnari
بيت السنارى
BaytalSinnari1.jpg
Bayt al-Sinnari today, courtyard façade
Bayt al-Sinnari
General information
TypeMansion
Architectural styleOttoman style
AddressMonge passage
Town or cityCairo
CountryEgypt
Completed1794
Renovated2002
Technical details
MaterialStone and wood
Website
Official website

Bayt al-Sinnari, built in 1794, is one of the remaining bourgeois mansions in medieval Cairo, Egypt. Managed by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the house has become an important cultural center after its restoration.

Contents

Location

Located in the neighborhood of the Al-Sayeda Zainab Mosque, Bayt Al Sinnari is reached through the dead-end Monge passage, named after Gaspard Monge, [1] who accompanied the French campaign to Egypt.

History

Door in sculpted stone BaytalSinnari3.jpg
Door in sculpted stone
Beautiful masharabiyya BaytalSinnari2.jpg
Beautiful masharabiyya

Bayt Al Sinnari was built in 1794 by Ibrahim Katkhuda al-Sinnari, whose surname refers to the city of Sennar. In 1798, the house was confiscated by the French to house the members of the Committee of Sciences and Arts, that accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte to Egypt. Its mission was to conduct a systematic study of Egypt, published in the famous Description de l'Égypte. [2] Gaspard Monge, eponym of the passage, in which the house is located, was president, Napoleon Bonaparte deputy, and Joseph Fourier secretary. However, with the departure of the French expedition in 1801, the institute closed down.

From 1917 to 1933 Bayt Al Sinnari housed a private Napoleon museum. In the aftermath of the 1992 Cairo earthquake the house underwent an elaborate restoration process. [3] France, Egypt and the UNESCO cooperated in the salvage of the house. [4] Today, the house is an important cultural center.

Architecture

Bayt al-Sinnari is composed of two distinct sections: the ground-floor with all the reception areas on the western side. On the second floor the private apartments with a mashrabiyya of magnificent woodwork and a small hammam. [5] The house has an interior court centered by a marble fountain. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaspard Monge</span> French mathematician (1746–1818)

Gaspard Monge, Comte de Péluse was a French mathematician, commonly presented as the inventor of descriptive geometry, technical drawing, and the father of differential geometry. During the French Revolution he served as the Minister of the Marine, and was involved in the reform of the French educational system, helping to found the École Polytechnique.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Baptiste Kléber</span> French general

Jean-Baptiste Kléber was a French military leader of the French Revolutionary Wars. After serving for one year in the French Royal Army, he entered Habsburg service seven years later. However, his humble birth hindered his opportunities. Eventually, he volunteered for the French Revolutionary Army in 1792 and quickly rose through the ranks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of the Pyramids</span> 1798 battle during the French Invasion of Egypt

The Battle of the Pyramids, also known as the Battle of Embabeh, was a major engagement fought on 21 July 1798, during the French Invasion of Egypt. The battle took place near the village of Embabeh, across the Nile River from Cairo, but was named by Napoleon after the Great Pyramid of Giza visible nearly nine miles away.

Pierre-François Bouchard was an officer in the French Army of engineers. He is most famous for discovering the Rosetta Stone, an important archaeological find that allowed Ancient Egyptian writing to be understood for the first time in over a millennium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gayer-Anderson Museum</span> Art museum in Cairo, Egypt

The Gayer-Anderson Museum is an art museum located in Cairo, Egypt. It is situated adjacent to the Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun in the Sayyida Zeinab neighborhood. The building takes its name from Major Robert Grenville Gayer-Anderson Pasha, who resided in the house between 1935 and 1942 with special permission from the Egyptian Government. The museum is noted for being one of examples of 17th-century domestic architecture left in Cairo, and also for its collection of furniture, carpets, curio, and other objects.

The Society of Arcueil was a circle of French scientists who met regularly on summer weekends between 1806 and 1822 at the country houses of Claude Louis Berthollet and Pierre Simon Laplace at Arcueil, then a village 3 miles south of Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">French campaign in Egypt and Syria</span> 1798–1801 campaign during the War of the Second Coalition

The French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was a Napoleonic campaign in the Ottoman territories of Egypt and Syria, executed by Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon proclaimed to "defend French trade interests" and to establish "scientific enterprise" in the region. It was the primary purpose of the Mediterranean campaign of 1798, which was a series of naval engagements that included the capture of Malta and the Greek island Crete, later arriving in the Port of Alexandria. The campaign ended in defeat for Napoleon after abandoning his troops to head back to France for the looming risk of a Second Coalition. This led to the death and withdrawal of French troops in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Desaix</span> French general (1768–1800)

Louis Charles Antoine Desaix was a French general and military leader during the French Revolutionary Wars. According to the usage of the time, he took the name Louis Charles Antoine Desaix de Veygoux. He was considered one of the greatest generals of the Revolutionary Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bayt al-Suhaymi</span> Building in Cairo, Egypt

Bayt al-Suhaymi is a traditional Egyptian Islamic themed house and museum in Cairo, Egypt. It was originally built in 1648 by Abdel Wahab el Tablawy along the Darb al-Asfar, a very prestigious and expensive part of Islamic Cairo. In 1796 it was purchased by Sheikh Ahmed as-Suhaymi, whose family held it for several subsequent generations. The Sheikh greatly extended the house from its original through incorporating neighbouring houses into its structure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bayt al-Razzaz palace</span> Place in Cairo

The Bayt al-Razzaz Palace or Beet el-Razzaz is a mansion, in the heart of medieval Cairo, Egypt, constructed from the late 15th century through the late 18th century. The 190-room urban palace in the Darb al-Ahmar neighborhood of medieval Cairo was abandoned in the 1960s, but a restoration project rehabilitated the eastern building between 1977 and 2007. The property belongs to the Ministry of State for Antiquities, which has plans to restore the western complex. It is also currently a place of many Egyptian craftsmen and women, with many local-artistic workshops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institut d'Égypte</span>

The Institut d'Égypte or Egyptian Scientific Institute is a learned society in Cairo specializing in Egyptology. It was established in 1798 by Napoleon Bonaparte to carry out research during his Egyptian campaign and is the oldest scientific institute in Egypt. The building in which it was housed was burnt down, with the loss of many documents, during the Arab Spring unrest of 2011. It reopened in December 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egypt–France relations</span> Bilateral relations

Egypt–France relations, also known as Egyptian–French relations, are the bilateral relations between Egypt and France. Relations between the two countries have centuries, from the Middle Ages to the present day. Following the French occupation of Egypt (1798-1801), a strong French presence has remained in Egypt. Egyptian influence is also evident in France, in monuments such as the Luxor Obelisk in Paris. The relationship is also marked by conflicts like the Algerian War (1954-1962) and the Suez Crisis (1956). As of 2020, relations are strong and consist of shared cultural activities such as the France-Egypt Cultural Year (2019), tourism, diplomatic missions, trade, and a close political relationship. Institutions like the Institut d’Égypte, the French Institute in Egypt and the French University of Egypt (UFE) also aid in promoting cultural exchange between Egypt and France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revolt of Cairo</span> 1798 rebellion during the French Invasion of Egypt

The Revolt of Cairo was a revolt that occurred on 21–22 October 1798 by the citizens of Cairo against the French occupation of Egypt led by Napoleon Bonaparte.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soliman Pasha al-Faransawi</span> Egyptian commander

Soliman Pasha al-Faransawi, born Joseph Anthelme Sève, was a French-born Egyptian commander.

Mémoires sur l'Égypte, long title Mémoires sur l'Égypte, publiés pendant les campagnes du Général Bonaparte dans les années 1798 and 1799 was a 4-volume series published by Institut d'Egypte in 1798–1801. A collection of writings, the books detail research during Napoleon's Campaign in Egypt, comprising some of the most foundational scientific research on the Middle East by Western scholars notably in the emerging field of Egyptology. A Paris reprint of the series was released in 1799–1803 and an English translation of Volume 1 was printed in London on 31 March 1800.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beit Achiqbash</span> Historic site in Aleppo, Syria

Beit Achiqbash ; is an old Aleppine courtyard mansion built in the mid 18th Century by Qarah Ali (Karaly), a wealthy Christian merchant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qa'a (room)</span> Reception room type

The qa'a is a roofed reception room found in the domestic architecture of affluent residences of the Islamic world. It is the most common hall type in the medieval Islamic domestic architecture. The plan of a qa'a may be inspired by the four-iwan plan (cruciform) of religious buildings. They were used to welcome male guests, where they would sit on the raised platform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madrasa al-Ashrafiyya</span> Islamic school in Al-Aqsa, Jerusalem

The Madrasaal-Ashrafiyya is an Islamic madrasa structure built in 1480–1482 by the Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Qaytbay on the western side of the Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem. Although only a part of the original structure is still standing today, it is a notable example of royal Mamluk architecture in Jerusalem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Darb al-Ahmar</span> District of Cairo, Egypt

Al-Darb al-Ahmar is a centuries old historic neighbourhood in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Historic Cairo, Egypt. Located south of the old walled city of Cairo, originally built by the Fatimids in the 10th century, it began to urbanize largely during the 14th century in the Mamluk period.

References

  1. Map of Bayt al-Sinnary Retrieved 2020-04-05.
  2. History of Bayt Al Sinnari Retrieved 2020-04-05.
  3. Official website of Bayt al-Sinnari Retrieved 2020-04-05.
  4. UNESCO restoration of Bayt al-Sinnari Retrieved 2020-04-05.
  5. Architecture of Bayt al-Sinnari Retrieved 2020-04-05.
  6. Bernard Maury, Conserving and restoring the Harawi and al-Sinnari Houses in Cairo, Museum International (UNESCO Paris) 210:53, nº 2 (April–June 2001), pp 22-35.

Sources