Day
7: Islamic Cairo, Fishawy's for Tea, Silversmiths Workshop
Met two American guys at breakfast and gave them a ride to the Khan when Eman picked me up. I asked if it was OK and she said that they must behave themselves because the Khan police would put them down as being in her responsibility and could suspend her guides licence if they misbehaved!
Now I begin to understand the security at the Khan, and was very reassured by it.
Walk through the Khan and Islamic Cairo to Nasr Gate
Hossam, Eman and I walked in the cool of the morning down the Sharia Al-Muizz li-Din Allah to the Nasr Gate the in old wall.
The streets of Islamic Cairo, Near the Khan el Khalili.
Eman gave a wonderful narrative about the various rulers who built the mosques, sabiles and madrasses that line the street.
A sabile is a place that dispenses water to anyone who comes. Water, being precious, was sold and delivered to anyone in the general community who could afford it. The sabile gave free water.
 A madrass is a school.
A new mosque, sabile and madrass was considered to be the perfect gift to the people and a sure fire way to assure that any ruler was remembered. I would not say that there were too many of them, but there are quite a lot of them in this area, and the architecture and decorations are beautiful and interesting.
The Antiquities department is restoring the mosques. We went inside a restored merchant house, the House of Al-suhaymi.
Bab el Nasr - One of the remaining gales in Saladin's medieval wall
 We saw the Mansour Qulaune complex, the Nasr Mohamed Ibn Qalaune, Sabil Abd el Rahman Qatkhuda, Barquqe Bosque, Sehamy house, Persiby Mosque Tikka, Soliman Agh el Selahdar Mosque, Aqmar Mosque, el Hakem Mosque, the Bab el Nasr, and the tomb of Joseph el Zoqe (the Gentleman) who lived at the gate and mediated local disputes.
There is a copper market on the street to the Gate. All the supplies for the Khan coffee shops. Enameled pots, tea pots, small plastic and metal markers used to count the number of the drinks delivered to the table. Also selling Sheesha pipes(tobacco water pipes)
After we walked back to the Khan we had lunch and then would visit the goldsmith workshops.
Thanks to the merchants and artisans in the Khan
The merchants in the Khan have been told that I want to learn all about local crafts and to promote the beautiful things made in Egypt, and they have been most hospitable.
Two men who have stores in the Khan and who have grown up there, Ikhramy and Seyd, spent the next couple of days introducing me to the artisans. I very much appreciate the time they spent doing this for me. Thank you Ikhramy and Seyd!
Lunch at Fishawy's
We ate at Fishawy's today and had lamb and kafka, bread, dips, salad, and mint tea followed by a drink that was pomegranate and banana - delicious.
Pomegranate Drink seved in a cool dark back room at Fishawy's.
I fed the stray cats under the table, but you do have to be careful as rabies exists in Egypt. There are hundreds of cats in the Khan and most are not very fat, and there are not many old ones either, but lots of kittens. I am sure that, here, the natural lifespan of 2 or 3 years applies to cats. We only saw three dogs!
As we were sitting there people brought by items and tried to sell them. I ended up buying two wallets from a one-armed man. Nice wallets with soft leather and embossed Egyptian scenes. But I don't think they try to sell them to the locals who frequent the shop, just the tourists..
While we were walking through the streets before lunch we saw two funerals. As the muslim custom is burial before sunset, there is a atmosphere of speed. A burial must be arranged quickly and we saw a coffin drapped in green being carried down the narrow streets. As muslims are buried in shrouds, the coffin is only for tansport through the streets.
Gold and Silver Workshops in the Khan
Most of the Gold and Silver items in the Khan are in workshops on the upper floors of the buildings. They can make custom cartouches, custom designed pieces and ring bases. The jewels are procured and polished by a separate workshop. So you can buy a jewel and then have the goldsmiths make a custom piece.
Made in Egypt - Gold and Silver in the Khan |
Click to see larger picture.
Click for More Pictures of Workshop. |
Where: 5 Kahn el Kahlili Corridor number 16 nearby Kahal Carpet Shop.
Who: Silversmiths at Kahn. Artists workshop for islamic and ancient egyptian art.
Contact: Heussin Badr
Artist Story: Silver and gold cartouches and standard pieces are made, but custom pieces can be made. Pieces of stone are bought seperately and can be fitted into custom pieces. The workers each take a part in putting together the cartouches. A master artisan does the custom pieces. If you have bought a cartouche in Cairo it was probably made here.
Souvenirs: Didn't buy any custom pieces. They do sell at the workshop, but they don't actively encourage visitors. |
 Many of the craftsmen are older men, any new aetisans must come and apprentice in the workshop.
Gold and Silver is sold wholesale or retail in separate shops. Prices are set by weight. If the piece has a big stone, the weight of the stone is included and you will want to bargain over the price per ounce or gram. Many sellers want to sell the light, but highly worked pieces, by fixed price, but the tourists always want to bargain and their tourguides tell them to do so. So no one appears to be happy with fixed price, even though many say they would prefer it!
We were shown the workshop by Ikhramy who trained as an artisan and was wearing a Bilabong tee shirt when we met. The next day he showed me a necklace he had made in silver. The links looked heavy but they were cleverly made-- hollow --so that they created a comfortable necklace to wear.
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