DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4645#0038
BAZAAR IN THE STREET LEADING TO THE MOSQUE EL-MOORISTAN, CAIRO.
Mr. Roberts states in a note upon this sketch the difficulty which an artist has in making a drawing
in Cairo of such a scene. " The view," he says, " was taken from the steps of a fountain,— one of
those elegant structures which have been raised by the benevolence of individuals to furnish a
draught of water to any person, who desires it, as he passes. This bazaar of the Khan Khaleal is
situated in the principal street, the Cheapside of Cairo, which leads from the Gate of Metwalis to
Bab-e-Nasr. It is crowded by such an endless throng, that to undertake to make a drawing there
is disheartening, for you are not only liable to jostling and interruption, but the crowd, ignorant
of what you are doing, are not so much disposed to interrupt you from curiosity as from hatred
and dislike to a Frank, which they would willingly shew by gross offence, if they dared. Just as
I had finished a drawing, a half-sucked orange was thrown from a window above me, and struck
my sketch-book out of my hand : on looking up, the assailant had disappeared. The overhanging
structures, like vast projecting cages, afford great facility for such a freak; but, perhaps, a Turk
sketching in Cheapside might not have escaped more easily from interruption, though not in the
same way."
The large, ruined building on the left was formerly the sumptuous residence of one of the
extirpated Memlook chiefs; it is now rapidly hastening to decay. Beneath are the shops, or bazaar,
where the merchants sit as usual to smoke, or read the Koran, to pray, or to deal if a customer
applies ; for either or all these are public acts, and the owners appear to be utterly indifferent to the
crowds who pass their places of business.
The fine minaret which bounds the view, with its striped and chequered walls and ever-varying
balconies and enrichments, belongs to the mosque of the Sultan Kalaoon, better known as the
Mooristan, or madhouse of Cairo, which was established by that Sultan a.d. 1287. On its foundation,
many wise and benevolent arrangements were made for the benefit of the unfortunate inmates. The
ablest medical men and regular nurses were attached to the establishment, and a band of music
played at intervals to relieve their minds. In time, embezzlement and neglect left the condition of
the patients most wretched. In 1833, Ahmed Pasha Taher repaired the building, and re-established
what was necessary; but lately the lunatics have been removed to another hospital.
In the mosque is the tomb of the founder, and near it, forming part of the same mass of
building, is the tomb of his son, Naser Mohammed, who finished the Mooristan. The tomb of the
Sultan Kalaoon is handsome, and the enrichments of mother-of-pearl and mosaics in the Byzantine
taste have a rich and curious effect.
Of this striking scene, so highly characteristic of the City of the Caliphs, it would be unjust to
Mr. Haghe if so beautiful a work of art as this view is were passed without some attempt to do
justice to the talent which has been so remarkably developed in the progress of this work, from the
series of Eastern scenery which began with the Holy Land to that which is now so near completion
in Modern Egypt. The effect of colour now produced from the press is due to his skill and taste;
and the unrivalled treatment of his chiaro-scuro, and spirit and ability in the characteristic grouping
of the crowded thoroughfares, appear to leave no room for further improvement in the art of
lithography, in which he is so greatly distinguished.
Roberts's Journal. Wilkinson's Egypt.
Mr. Roberts states in a note upon this sketch the difficulty which an artist has in making a drawing
in Cairo of such a scene. " The view," he says, " was taken from the steps of a fountain,— one of
those elegant structures which have been raised by the benevolence of individuals to furnish a
draught of water to any person, who desires it, as he passes. This bazaar of the Khan Khaleal is
situated in the principal street, the Cheapside of Cairo, which leads from the Gate of Metwalis to
Bab-e-Nasr. It is crowded by such an endless throng, that to undertake to make a drawing there
is disheartening, for you are not only liable to jostling and interruption, but the crowd, ignorant
of what you are doing, are not so much disposed to interrupt you from curiosity as from hatred
and dislike to a Frank, which they would willingly shew by gross offence, if they dared. Just as
I had finished a drawing, a half-sucked orange was thrown from a window above me, and struck
my sketch-book out of my hand : on looking up, the assailant had disappeared. The overhanging
structures, like vast projecting cages, afford great facility for such a freak; but, perhaps, a Turk
sketching in Cheapside might not have escaped more easily from interruption, though not in the
same way."
The large, ruined building on the left was formerly the sumptuous residence of one of the
extirpated Memlook chiefs; it is now rapidly hastening to decay. Beneath are the shops, or bazaar,
where the merchants sit as usual to smoke, or read the Koran, to pray, or to deal if a customer
applies ; for either or all these are public acts, and the owners appear to be utterly indifferent to the
crowds who pass their places of business.
The fine minaret which bounds the view, with its striped and chequered walls and ever-varying
balconies and enrichments, belongs to the mosque of the Sultan Kalaoon, better known as the
Mooristan, or madhouse of Cairo, which was established by that Sultan a.d. 1287. On its foundation,
many wise and benevolent arrangements were made for the benefit of the unfortunate inmates. The
ablest medical men and regular nurses were attached to the establishment, and a band of music
played at intervals to relieve their minds. In time, embezzlement and neglect left the condition of
the patients most wretched. In 1833, Ahmed Pasha Taher repaired the building, and re-established
what was necessary; but lately the lunatics have been removed to another hospital.
In the mosque is the tomb of the founder, and near it, forming part of the same mass of
building, is the tomb of his son, Naser Mohammed, who finished the Mooristan. The tomb of the
Sultan Kalaoon is handsome, and the enrichments of mother-of-pearl and mosaics in the Byzantine
taste have a rich and curious effect.
Of this striking scene, so highly characteristic of the City of the Caliphs, it would be unjust to
Mr. Haghe if so beautiful a work of art as this view is were passed without some attempt to do
justice to the talent which has been so remarkably developed in the progress of this work, from the
series of Eastern scenery which began with the Holy Land to that which is now so near completion
in Modern Egypt. The effect of colour now produced from the press is due to his skill and taste;
and the unrivalled treatment of his chiaro-scuro, and spirit and ability in the characteristic grouping
of the crowded thoroughfares, appear to leave no room for further improvement in the art of
lithography, in which he is so greatly distinguished.
Roberts's Journal. Wilkinson's Egypt.