Egyptian Textile Treasures

Nagada Weaving Community

Shopping Aussies in Aswan's Night Market

Nagada is a village of loom weavers whose craft is said to predate even the pharaohs.  That was on my list too but our busy schedule precluded a trip away from Luxor to search them out.  The village is located on the left bank of the Nile somewhere between Qena and Luxor.  Until 1988, Sudan was the chief importer of Nagada’s hand-loomed and dyed textiles.  The weavers made ferka, a scarf of cotton & rayon.  Textile dyeing was undertaken in the home of the weaver.  In 1991, a Canadian development project revived the languishing craft and taught the weavers new skills and motifs to improve the quality of their work.  Although now no longer a functioning project, those involved went on to run a successful collaboration and business venture called Nagada.  

In a similar fashion, the Fayoum Pottery School has promoted skills in ceramics to make them commercially viable.

Nice Carpets & a Few Shisha Pipes too

Egyptian Textile Museum

I am also pleased to note that since my trip, a Textile Museum has opened (2008) in Muezz El Din Street.  The Museum’s charter is to trace Egypt’s textile history which goes back to 6000 BC.  Linen (flax), cotton and papyrus were well known to them over successive centuries.  Quilting, it is said, can be traced back to ancient Egypt.  It was brought back to Europe on the backs of the Crusaders who used it for comfort under their armour.  Sensible lads! 

So, if you’re in the neighbourhood and into historical textiles in some way, show your support by visiting.  I still find it hard to believe that the lovely Nefertari’s (1290-1254 BC) diaphanous gown wasn’t made yesterday.  Would we have the skills to replicate it (by hand) today?

Nubian Sunset

We had plenty of time to sit on Melodie’s rooftop sundeck, order drinks from the bar until sunset, and eat leisurely dinners.  This was essential recovery after visiting some of the major archaeological sites along the Nile.

Dramatic Night at Kom Ombo

Our first stop had been an evening tour of Kom Ombo (235 BC), a temple dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek and falcon god Haroeris.  It is the only known temple that is split along its longitudinal axis with at one time, a double entrance pylon.  Mummified crocodiles add subtle interest to the interior of this Ptolemaic temple that is highly decorated with massive “papyrus” columns and medical texts, amongst other things.  We were told that Cleopatra could have bathed in the waters of the temple’s deep wells, although most likely, it was priests, who used it for their ablutions.  We didn’t have a guide with us for this monument so I eavesdropped.  This little exercise made me appreciate that Egypt attracts travellers the world over and how professional the docent system is.  Watching the sun go down over this ancient complex allowed us just a glimpse of its former grandeur.

Relief work on one of the massive Kom Ombo colums

Having established the fact that Kom Ombo was on the right bank and we indeed were travelling down the Nile in the right direction (it’s an Antipodean thing!), Miss Melodie pulled into the east bank at Edfu.   Egyptian myth tells us that this site was where Horus met Seth in battle to avenge his father’s death (Osiris) and regain his rightful heritage; establishing a renewal of royal authority.  

The Temple of Horus has entrance pylons that are the second largest (at 36m high) in Egypt.  Construction began during the Ptolemaic Dynasty in 237 BC, however it took some 180 years before it was finished.  Discovered in 1860, it remains one of the best preserved of the ancient sites.  The granite statues of Horus, the falcon god are a testimony to their magnificent craftsmanship as is the wooden model of Horus’ sacred barque.  Carved reliefs and hieroglyphics show us that the temple had a library and a chamber where recipes for making incense and perfumes were inscribed.  

Temple of Horus at Edfu

Pink columns at Edfu

Dancing Queens

Taking Tea with Captain Mustafa & Crew

Those who had chosen to visit Abu Simbel left very early next morning to catch their flight.  Instead, Mr DIY & I took another, very relaxing felucca ride with Captain Mustafa, a local Nubian.  His crew even made us tea using Nile water, and thankfully, we’ve lived to tell the story!  It is said that if you drink from the Nile, you will return one day.  

Mr DIY was sadly missing his boat (aka the other woman) so it was with great pleasure we managed a peaceful sail in a traditional, hand built craft.  Sadly it ended too soon and Mustafa dropped us off near our waiting cruise ship, MS Melodie. 

Feluccas on the Nile near Aswan

Ah, yet another chance to drift luxuriously down the Nile watching out for crocodiles, enjoying vistas of fertile fields, high red cliffs and vast desert-scapes. Not to mention dodging local fishing craft and lots (and lots) of other cruise ships.  The Nile is as busy now as it was more than 5000 years ago. 

Early Morining and lots of Cruise Ships at Kom Obo Temple

The Nile is some 6700km long with a recorded history equally as long.  We were cruising from Aswan to Luxor only, a mere distance of 209km.  Still, that took us 3 days.  Miss Melodie was comfortably appointed.  

We only had our tour group on board and the crew looked after us remarkably well - even helping some of the men adjust their turbans for the evening’s galabia bash!  The evening's fancy dress challenge offered loads of laughs.  Prize winners of the evening were the couple who dressed as mummies!  Now that was fun proving how creative some people can be with a roll of toilet paper or two. 

Dancing Queens: Dressing up for the Galabia Evening

Another night we were treated with performances by a belly dancer and a whirling dervish; other aspects of Egypt that we had not delved too deeply into.  

Dervishes are a Sufi sect who traditionally use dance to reach religious ecstasy.  It has become tourist entertainment largely because of its notoriety as an unusual religious practice.  Having said that, it was interesting to note the difference between the Sufi dances performed in other countries. 

Friendly Crew on Ms Melodie help make a perfect turban

Colourful Dervish

A Novel Approach

Nubian Village, Aswan

Thirteen hours later, we arrived to early morning Aswan.  Aswan was once the ancient city of Syene, the largest trading centre in the Nile Valley.  Here convoys of goods on camel trains arrived from Africa and the Mediterranean.  Merchants bartered and sold in bustling souks, caravanserais housed weary travellers, hammams (bathhouses) refreshed them and tea shops proliferated.  What a difference to Cairo and Alexandria though!  This was chunking Egypt down to a manageable size.  

Or so we thought...... 

First destination in our Nubian Dynasty discovery was the Island of Philae near the Old Dam on the Nile.  The island was once thought to be the source of the Nile.  Its cornerstone is a small (by Egyptian standards) temple built during the Ptolemaic period (332-30 BC), dedicated to Isis, mother goddess of healing.  Needless to say the site has many remains of earlier and later constructions.  In all it’s quite romantic and could easily be seen as the source of many a modern-day stage set.  I could just imagine Diaghilev’s ballet troupe in their Picasso designed costumes prancing about the monuments.

Island of Philae

We were driven back to Aswan via the Aswan Dam lookout point and managed a stop to take necessary “I was there” photos of Lake Nasser, the largest man-made lake.  This huge dam finally put man in control of the Nile – for better or worse. 

Felucca Eva Stahl and her trusty Captain

Back to our day of more romantic interludes, we enlisted Captain el Tayib and crew on the felucca Eva Stahl to take us on an expedition until sunset.  We floated in the now peaceful First Cataract, passing the Tombs of the Nobles, Aga Khan’s mausoleum, St Simeon’s Monastery and Nubian villages.  We stopped briefly (and unexpectedly) on Elephantine Island to visit a Nubian home and crocodile museum.  That’s what happens when you are a captive audience. 

Sunset was nearly on us and we had a date at the Old Cataract Hotel for high tea.  This evocative hotel built in 1902 was once visited by Agatha Christie who famously wrote “Death on the Nile” in 1937.  Sir Winston Churchill was no slouch either, having also visited.  We all sat sipping mint tea, polishing off trays of fresh sandwiches and cakes but it wasn’t about the food.  It was about the sunset - and realizing that we were sitting in the best place to finally grasp the meaning of travel and discovery.  Over the eons many others have sat and been inspired by Egypt’s monuments too.  “Now” is over in a flash too soon.

High Tea on the Old Cataract Hotel Terrace

Our evening's task had been set by Athena.  We were to comb Aswan’s famous 2km of Sharia el Souk for a galabia or two to wear to a costume party set for our cruise down the Nile.  The souk was fun, it was hard work, and of course we bought far more than we needed.  Who could resist colourful scarves, cotton shirts, leather bags, spicy perfumes, fine glass bottles, intricate carpets, spices, teas and cats!  As Mr DIY had retreated to the Cleopatra Hotel, our deserted (male) travelling companion achieved souk notoriety.  He was highly complemented on his collection of wives, and offered a camel in exchange.  We, the mature ladies of the trip, then proceeded to giggle madly for rest of our shopping expedition.  Do we ever grow up?

Sunset over Aswan from the Old Cataract Hotel

(And just one more of the lateen rigged feluccas as a nod to our sailing lives and to a craft that has been plying the waters of the Nile since ancient times ....)

Traditional design that still works well

Seven Wonders

Alexandria from Caitbay Fort

The next day we decided to explore Caitbay Fort, built by Mamluk Sultan Caitbay in 1477-80, over the site of the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria. (Another of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World in this area.  The Pyramids, of course, being the other!)  

The Lighthouse, built in Pharaonic times (297 BC), had stood guiding ships – a mirror by day and fire by night - until an earthquake in 1303 toppled it.  Its demise was complete following an earthquake driven tsunami in 1326. 

Caitbay Fort

This impressive fort is built over what was once the Island of Pharos, the port entrance of Alexandria.  Caitbay had selected this strategic position to defend Alexandria against Turkish attacks.  Some of the building materials were taken from Lighthouse rubble.  The fort houses a small but well-presented Maine Biology Institute Museum with displays encompassing the Nile, Mediterranean and Red Seas.

On our way back we made a quick detour into the lobby of the famous Hotel Cecil to imaging rubbing shoulders with British Secret Service agents, Winston Churchill, Somerset Maugham or even Al Capone.  We made our way passed the Library of Alexandria, now a modern adaption of its famous ancient self, then dashed over to the beach for a quick paddle in salty Med waters before sitting in the bus, 3 hours back to Cairo.  Our overnight train to Aswan was waiting…

A little medicine for the train trip
& one for Stella (my MIL)

Souk al Kheiymiya

Renovations have made me focus on doing a few of those long-promised chores – like sorting and digitalizing photos from previous travels.  So here I am with a few notes from our trip to Egypt in 2004.  The main bulk of posts, the historical context that is, can be found elsewhere so that I can focus on post-2010 textile thoughts, updates & connections here.  Since we travelled, there has been something of a “revival’ of interest in the Tentmakers of Cairo, so there are plenty of sites to research if you plan to visit.

Street of Tentmakers

Deep in the old streets of Cairo not far from the Medieval gate Bab Zuweila (1092), you can find Souk al Kheiymiya, the street of Tentmakers.  I had first read about them when doing some research for our trip to Egypt and I hoped it would be possible to see their beautiful applique work.  Egypt has a long history as a textile producing country.  Clothing was important to them as was the use of linens in their mummification process.  Embellishments on tombs attest to this.  The earliest known existing applique is a canopy of leather dating from 980 BC.  Textiles made from fibre unfortunately do not often stand the rigours of time. 

Bab Zuweila & Bananas

Tents are the customary housing for Berber people who live nomadic lives.  They too had a demand for decorative tents and sought the fine applique work of the Kheiymiya souks.  Although tent making was the artisans main business, there was often occasion to produce smaller items for a ready sale to locals, travelling merchants and tourists who have visited Khan al-Khalili over its 700 year history. 

Fabrics are easily transported and light, perfect for visitors to Egypt.  They can be made to meet demand for small or large pieces.  This was the perfect solution to a tourist rush generated by Howard Carter’s discoveries in 1922.  King Tutankhamun became an immediate poster boy and skilled applique stitchers could cash in by making and selling designs from Pharaonic tombs in busy markets across Egypt. 

Men stitch in small shops in the Cairo souk as they have done since Fatimid times, making Arabic tents. Master craftsmen instruct apprentices in the art of fine applique.  Businesses are all family run.  Designs are mostly geometric in keeping with Islamic principles and are often drawn from the walls and floors of nearby mosques.  Others are completed in flowing Arabic script or show narrative Pharaonic scenes.  The chosen design is sketched on a template, which is then perforated.  Carbon powder is rubbed over the template and the design transferred to a fabric base.  Skilled needleworkers then stitch pieces of coloured fabric to the base to create a design. 

 

Sacks of Garlic

Sadly, I did not find any quality work when I visited the souk in 2004 and was unwilling to buy something just to have a piece of the tentmaker’s applique.  In hindsight, it would have been better to have sought prior recommendation.  Things have changed since then, thankfully, and a few of my friends have returned home with stunning pieces.  I am left with a piece my MIL was planning to throw out...  The stitching on that is even worse but it’s a happy reminder of our 2004 adventures. 

Jenny Bowker has provided instructions on how to find the Tentmakers.  Having lived there, she has taken a special interest in these applique craftsmen; her own award winning work being of the same technique. 

I love this Berber piece in the British Museum too. It goes to show that wonderful pieces can be found as long as you are prepared to search and take your time.  Difficult for a fleeting afternoon visit but at least it was worth it to soak up the ambiance of a traditional craft being practiced in a centuries old bazaar. 

Mediterranean Splendour

Next morning off we bussed to Alexandria, really getting a feel for the geography of the country.  I admired large white dovecotes in farmyards along the road but travelling at the speed of light, as Egyptian drivers are wont to do, meant really blurred photos.  We were pleased to see Alexandria, coated as it were in concrete cancer and salt from a stiff wind blowing off the Med.  Founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BC it became, under guidance of its Ptolemaic rulers, a great metropolis second only to Rome.  Its historic centre has a collection of interesting Greco-Roman sites, so we started off at Pompey’s Pillar.

Pompey's Pillar & pink Sphinx

Of course, Pompey’s Pillar is not Pompey’s at all.  It was carved out of one block of red granite and erected in 298 in honour of the Roman Emperor Diocletian.  It is flanked by two gorgeous pink sphinxes and is situated in the Serapeum Gardens.  These gardens, and I use the term very loosely, are part of the site of the ancient temple of Serapis.  This cult had grown from a merging of both Egyptian and Roman gods, including Apis (the bull) who was worshiped during the Old Kingdom. 

Not so gloomy below ground in the Cataombs

We escaped the heat with a walk through the musty Kom al-Shuqafa Catacombs.  This again was a complex of mixed cultures – decorated in a lavish fusion of Egyptian and Greek symbolism.  It was fascinating to walk through this underground cemetery imagining the elaborate ceremonies performed for the dead one thousand years ago.  The introduction of Christianity in Alexandria is attributed to St Mark about the time of Roman Emperor Claudius (42 AD).  It gained popularity very quickly and soon Christians constituted the majority of Egypt’s population.

Fortunately, the Greco-Roman Museum (1895) cares for many of the important finds from Alexandria’s past.  The museum itself is quite beautiful; set around central gardens.  We could have stayed longer.  Do remember to keep change in your pocket for your trip to the bathroom however, as the monitors demand a tip.  I was beginning to see Paul Theroux’s point. (I can't quite remember what that was now - having written this some 10 years ago, gasp!!) An international incident, however was narrowly averted and we scooted off to a nice open air seafood café with attentive waiters and cats, down near the Corniche.

Still Standing

Our “tour proper” had now started and a quick bus ride to Giza took all of us to back to the Old Kingdom.  We were lucky to have the services of a very knowledgeable guide on board. 

Early Morning Crowds at Giza

A lingering early morning haze made the Pyramids all the more mysterious and their monumental size reduced the madding crowds to miniature.  Somehow all you want to do is stare and gawp.  I guess that’s partly what the Pharaohs wanted; not bad considering they didn’t have skyscrapers, massive gothic cathedrals or vast bridge superstructures as competition.  We didn’t go inside Khufu but wandered around the base to get a feel for the incredible building blocks (2½ tons each) and wondered at the beauty of art rendered with only the simplest of tools.  Each pyramid does not stand alone.  Subsidiary pyramids, mortuary temples, a valley temple, storehouses, courtyards and a causeway make up the basic plan.  Khufu even had his royal bark (ship) buried too.  Add to the mix a surrounding burial ground littered with tombs.  Only the Pyramid of Khafre has the remains of its limestone casing.  One can only imagine how polished these lavish red and white tombs must have been.  Not only a monument to a great king but also to imaginative man living in a country of red desert sands spliced through by a river of abundance which ensured man’s prosperity and development.

Companion Pair

The Sphinx is a little less imposing and far gentler against the rigidity of the pyramids.  Together they make a perfect couple.    With its lion body and majestic human head, the Sphinx was the guardian of the Royal Necropolis of Giza.  From our viewpoint on the causeway, we had a perfect outlook over the Sphinx Temple and Khafre’s valley temple, built it is thought, to appease gods of the solar cult.

Mummified Cat (Louvre Collection) See wiki link

Having filled our minds with the mysteries and ingenuity of man, we chugged off to see some papyrus paintings.  Yes, of course I bought one.  At least it had a cat in it.  Cats were a revered animal and some were even mummified.  The cult of the cat has not died out entirely in Egypt and many furry friends have developed well-honed bargaining skills, becoming quite slick souk hawkers as I was soon to find out!

Tutankhamun's Death Mask

A fantastic local lunch in downtown Giza set us up for an afternoon at the Egyptian Museum.  Despite wanting to see everything, we made the best of our limited time by taking a ‘soldier’s five” tour with our guide.  This meant cutting back to essentials, so we marched off to see Tutankhamun’s (1358–1353 BC) 3000 funerary objects and his amazing, amazing death mask.   After lingering as long as I could, we moved on to see the exhibition of mummies, wondering if these former kings and nobles would have been pleased to know of their fate behind glass and being gawked at by millions.  I also couldn't help but wonder about the skilled weavers who prepared cloth for the mumification process (amongst other things).  That left us a little time to do a “mad mile”, to see as many exhibits as we could, before closing time.  We were still pinching ourselves back at the hotel – just in time naturally, for the call to evening prayer.  Lucky us…

Meeting Saladin....Again

We spent the next morning combing the forbidding fortress Citadel of Saladin, built to defend himself 1176 -1183 against the Crusaders and domestic enemies.  We had seen evidence of the spread of his empire in Delhi.  The Citadel area includes three mosques, the most famous of which is the Ottoman Muhammad ‘Ali (1828-1848), various palaces and the Well of Joseph.  The Ottoman mosque is a confection of decorated domes, alabaster and sleek minarets whilst the Harim Palace has been put to use as a well-appointed Military Museum.  Saladin had built such a successful fort that it was even used by British troops during 1882-1954.

Citadel of Saladin - fortifications from inside

Next stop was Coptic Cairo.  The churches were dark; we either couldn’t or didn’t take photos so I’m not sure which ones we visited.  The Hanging Church is built over a Roman fortress and has a roof in the shape of Noah’s Ark.  Icons and other Coptic art were quite beautiful and extraordinary.  The Church of St Segius is said to have been built over the spot where the holy family lived during their flight into Egypt. 

Old city gates leading into area near Coptic Cairo

Our next undertaking was an adventurous drive into the outer suburbs where we were shown how great blocks of marble, granite and alabaster were cut into thin slivers.  Why?  Well, Mr DIY is no ordinary tourist and by day 2, he wanted to see something a little left of mainstream.

Prayers at al-Hakim Mosque

We finished off our day with a stop on the way home to the Fatimid mosque of al-Hakim (990).  This mosque has an interesting history; one that includes being used as a prison, damaged by an earthquake, a repository for Islamic arts, a school and even a fortress for Napoleonic troops.  It was beautifully restored in 1981.  The mosque is within massive city walls and lies between Bab al-Futuh (Gate of Conquests) and Bab al-Nasr (Gate of Victory).  They certainly took security seriously back then….