City:
Siteseeing:
Beit El Sennari ( Sinnari House ) : Islamic
Beit El Sennari is not well known by many tourists who
visit Egypt. Situated on a small lane named Haret Monge, just off of a down town street called Khairat, there are very few tourism attractions
nearby.Sennari House was built in 1794 by Ibrahim Katkhuda El-Sennari, a
Sudanese occultist,it is famous for another reason. In 1798, Napoleon invaded
Egypt bringing with him an army of scientists,scholars and artists to establish
a French culture base in Egypt. Soon, they began their mission of making the
first European study of Egypt which they published as Le description de
l'Egypte. Sennari House "Beit ElSennari" was used to house many of
the French artists and scholars at the time. It became the center of the French
study of Egypt, and therefore a very important monument to early
Egyptology.This was exactly what I did. After leaving the metro I had to walk
for about 15 minutes before reaching the house.
Upon making my way through this door, I found myself in an old garden that I
found out later was the main garden of the house. Here, I found many old
palmtrees, along with some construction work, as the museum is still under
restoration. Typically, the house surrounds this open courtyard, and it was
used, particularly in the mornings, as a reception place. The sahn of El
Sennari House is very beautiful. There is a very old fountain.
The sahn is an excellent place to see most of the mashrabeya screens of the
house, as they are built to overlook the courtyard.There are many mashrabeya
screens all around the house and in a very good state. They are of the finest
variety, made of very small pieces of wood in tight patterns, and many have
additional arabesque carvings within the wood. To the left on the second
floor,one's eyes are drawn to a very attractive balcony with wood work all
around it.As both a historical house, and the center of work surrounding the
scholars in the Napoleon expedition, it deserves, and will probably someday
receive, more attention. But probably only then will it find an audience of
tourists.Nevertheless, even today it does have its charm, but only those very
interested in such places will appreciate its appeal.
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