Wikala Bazar'a
Cairo, Egypt

Built in the 17th c., the Wikala-Rab' of al-Bazar'a indicates the persistance of this type of commercial architecture which was fixed towards the end of the 15th c. (e.g., the Wikala of Sultan Qaytbay of 1480). It consists of stores on the ground floor, lodgings in a gallery on the second floor, and a rab' on the two top floors with split-level apartments with private terraces. Its remarkable verticality is characteristically Egyptian, and forms an interesting contrast with the Rab'-Wikala of Dhu'l Fiqar Katkhuda (1673), which is rather horizontal, probably following Syrian models.


Sources:


Jarrar, Sabri, András Riedlmayer, and Jeffrey B. Spurr. Resources for the Study of Islamic Architecture. Cambridge, MA: Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, 1994.


Meinecke, Michael. Die Restaurierung der Madrasa des Amirs Sabiq ad-Din Mitqal al-Anuki und die Sanierung des Darb Qirmiz in Kairo. Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 1980.


Raymond, André. The Great Arab Cities in the 16th-18th Centuries: An Introduction. New York: New York University Press, 1984.


Scharabi, Mohammed. "Drei traditionelle Handelsanlagen in Kairo: Wakalat al-Bazar'a, Wakalat D'ul-Fiqar und Wakalat al-Qutn." Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Abteilung Kairo 34 (1978): 162.

Location
Gamaliyya, Cairo, Egypt
Associated Names
Events
17th c./11th c. AH
Style Periods
1299-1922
Variant Names
Wakala-Rab' of al-Bazar'a
Variant
Wikalat Bazar'a
Variant
Building Usages
commercial