Name of Monument:

Wikala (caravanserai) of Bazar’a

Location:

The wikala is located on Tambakshiyya Street, off Jamalia Street in the Jamalia district, one of the most important commercial quarters of Fatimid period, Cairo, Egypt

Date of Monument:

Hegira 11th century / AD 17th century

Period / Dynasty:

Ottoman

Patron(s):

Muhammad Bazar’a was one of the members of the Yemeni family who migrated from Yemen to Egypt and settled in Cairo.

Description:

The Wikala (caravanserai) of Bazar'a has one principle (southeastern) façade. The building extends 25 m in length and is composed of four stories. The first- and ground-floors are built of stone. The upper residential floors, however, are made of brick. In the middle of the façade is the main entrance to the caravanserai, accentuated by a recessed wall that projects about 1.5 m more than the rest of the façade surface. This portal is crowned by a semi-circular arch and accommodates a door consisting of a plain, unadorned two-leaf door; the door itself is crowned by a second semi-circular arch. The projection is borne by stone brackets decorated with muqarnas tiers with pendantives.
To the right of entrance are four shops, and to the right of the shops is a side entrance to the building consisting of a door. Above the door there is a stone lintel decorated with star shapes, and a foundation plaque that has been left absolutely blank. The side entrance was for the specific use of patrons to the residential units in the upper stories of the caravanserai, thus providing the tenants some privacy. The second-storey façade has three windows; above each of the windows is a wooden projection 90 cm wide crowned by a row of muqarnas. The projection is borne by four large stone brackets. The façade situated to the left of the entrance is similar to that on the right-hand side.
The floor-plan of the caravanserai and its various components are arranged around a rectangular open courtyard. This design layout is a continuity of the plan which predominated during the Mamluk period and which may be found in Wikala Qaytbay and Wikala al-Ghuri. It is composed of two sections: the commercial and the residential. The entrance-hall leads to the inner courtyard measuring 27.65 m x 10.75 m, in the middle of which is a fountain, unfortunately only a trace of its presence remains today. The trade section consists of storage areas arranged around the courtyard on the ground- and first-floors, this is in addition to the shops on the ground-floor the entrances to which are on the façade overlooking the street. The residential level is composed of units that are located above the storage areas. Each unit consists of two levels comprising an entrance, a reception area, a living area, a small kitchen, a lavatory and an interior staircase.
Each of the four facades of the courtyard are composed of two colonnades, the second on top of the first, whose arches are supported by square, stone piers. The colonnades of the facade form a passage leading to the storage facilities, which are arranged around the courtyard on the first-floor and ground-floor levels. The third- and fourth-floor residential areas overlook the courtyard by means of mashrabiyyas, turned-wood lattice window grilles, equipped with moveable screens that open upwards, thus allowing those who are within the rooms to see the courtyard without anyone seeing them in the upper stories. By this means, the design of the caravanserai accomplished some social interaction amongst residents, whilst ensuring their privacy, as each apartment was separated both vertically and horizontally from the next.

View Short Description

One of the few extant Ottoman wikalas (caravanserais) in Cairo, it is similar in design and construction to the Mamluk Wikala of al-Ghuri. It was known as the Wikala of al-Kikhya until the AH 13th / AD 19th century and specialised in the timber trade. Later it was bought by the Yemeni Muhammad Bazar'a and was named after him. It then specialised in the soap trade (Nablus soap of Palestine) and in Yemeni coffee grains.

How Monument was dated:

The dating of this building is supported by historical references detailed in the bibliography, for example Mawsu'a Madinat al-Qahira fi alf 'Am (1987) and Dalil al-Athar al-Islamiya bi-madinat al-Qahira (2000).

Selected bibliography:

Raymond, A., The Great Arab Cities in the 16th–18th Centuries: An Introduction, New York, 1984.
Rizq, A., Atlas al-'imara al-Islamiya wa al-Qibtiya bil Qahira [Atlas of Islamic and Coptic Architecture in Cairo], Cairo, 2003.
Musa, Rifa'at M., Al-Wikalat wa al-Buyut al-Islamiya fi Masr al-Othmaniya [Islamic Caravanserais and Residences in Ottoman Egypt], Cairo, 1993.
Zaqi, Abd al-Rahman, Cairo – Tarikhuha wa Atharuha [Cairo – Her History and Monuments], Cairo, 1966.
________, Dalil al-Athar al-Islamiya bi-madinat al-Qahira [Guide to the Islamic Monuments in the City of Cairo), Cairo, 2000.
Multiple Authors, Mawsu'a Madinat al-Qahira fi alf 'Am [Encyclopedia of the City of Cairo in a Thousand Years], Cairo, 1987.

Citation of this web page:

Tarek Torky "Wikala (caravanserai) of Bazar’a" in Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. 2024. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;eg;Mon01;22;en

Prepared by: Tarek TorkyTarek Torky

Tarek Abdel Aziz Torky holds a BA in Islamic and Coptic Antiquities from Cairo University (1982). He is currently Head of the Statistics Department at the Information Centre of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and reporter of the committee set up to prepare for the celebrations of the centennial of the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo. As Expo Curator for the Discover Islamic Art project in Egypt he prepared the database information for the Egyptian monuments included in the project and participated in formulating the dynastic and cross-dynastic exhibitions. He has participated in the first phase of the Islamic Art in the Mediterranean project as product manager and prepared the texts and photos for the catalogue Mamluk Art: the Splendour and Magic of the Sultans (MWNF, 2001). In 2002 he obtained a scholarship for Med. Master on new technologies for valorisation and management of Mediterranean Cultural Heritage in Ravello, Salerno.

Copyedited by: Majd Musa
Translation by: Amal Sachedina (from the Arabic).
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: ET 22

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