hosiar_nooraddin

THE CASE OF

AL-FINA'

IN CAIRO

191

The entrances (ba'b): Most of the houses had only one

entrance from the street. It was often small, except in large

houses. Its upper part could have decorations, and the wooden

door may have been decorated. The decoration often contained

religious writings such as Alla'h, or Alla'h is the greater.

They were used to keep demons away from the houses and bring luck

to the houses. The door led to a narrow passage which turned and

formed an L shape to bar any view from the street into the house

and its private courtyard. The large houses often had doorkeepers

who sat in

al-fina'

in front of the door, or in the passage of

the entrance (figure 4.13).

A bench made of stone might be built in

al-fina'

beside the

entrance and used for sitting. An iron ring might be moulded

beside the door to tie the donkey in

al-fina'

2 �.

The windows:

The windows were of two types: At the ground

floor, they were often covered by wooden screen and located

higher than the pedestrian eye level level. On the upper floors,

the windows formed projections and were called

Mashrabiyyah

Roshan,

covered by a wooden screen. The screen allowed the

dwellers to see the street from the room while the people in the

street could not see people behind the window. The screen was

used to hang jars to cool water. It helped also to reduce the

direct sun and glare penetration

259

(figure 4.19). The projection

should leave enough space (vertical and horizontal) for the

pedestrian and the loaded animals. These windows

(mashrabiyyah)

provided dwellers with the possibility to watch the residential

street life and keep it safe.

Existence of the Canal and ponds in the city provided the

houses along them with two different types of

al-fina.

The first

258

Lane, Edward William,

Modern Egyptians.

pp. 17-18.

� 9

Lane, Edward William,

Modern Egyptians.

pp. 18-20.

Lane-Pool, Stanley,

Cairo.

p. 8.