Hi my name is Cherif Loutfi I am an Egyptian and an art lover
It is said that anything that is older than 100 years is considered as antiques , that is why the gravures subject of this site are all considered antiques .Because they were all printed in the 19th century starting from the year 1800 A.C
This is an old street in Cairo , the
mosques you see are still existing , maybe the houses too , but most probably
they have been transformed into ugly modern structure if ever.
Left : The Aqueduct is a wall with a water way at
its top that was used to bring water from the Nile situated at a lower
level , to the Citadel or Castle situated at a higher level from
that of the
Nile.
Right : This is the way the Egyptians use to irrigate their land , by
bringing water from a lower level to a higher one . It is the same way that the
ancient Egyptians ( the Pharaohs) used since four thousand years , and is
still practiced till now.
This a small cafe shop where people come to rest and have a cafe or tee
,at the same time enjoy some music and belly dancing. 
This is the interior of a house during the Pharaohs , the problem now is
that we do not find houses because they were built with earth stones (mud)
,. while we can find temples and tombs that still exist till now because they
were built in stone. 
This is an old fountain called Sabil , in the Sabil
people had running water from which any passing by could stop to have a drink of
water for free , those kind of Sabils were built by rich people to allow to the
less rich to have a descent drink. 
What
a beautiful mosque!!!It is called "EL HAKEM" which means the "The
RULER" .This beautiful mosque still exist till now in Cairo . 
This is another Mosque that still exist in Cairo till now and is called
the "EL SULTAN HASSAN" . which literally means "The Good Sultan" was named after
one of the Sultans who ruled Egypt during the fourteenth
century. 
This also is a mosque called KAIT BEY .which is also a name of one of
the rulers of Egypt . this same ruler built a very famous fortress on the sea at
Alexandria north of Cairo. 
This is an Egyptian warrior from the northern desert they called him the
MAURE he is mostly coming from north Africa , Morocco , or Algeria since
the Arabs were occupying the south of spain for more than 400
years. 
What you see at the left are the tombs of the Mamlouks who lived in
Egypt before Mohammed Ali the great .They still exist at the north of Cairo.Each
of course has the name of its owner . 
At the right is a nice district in down town Cairo with the beautiful
houses and structures that are typically Egyptian and oriental.
This is Mourad Bey resting in his house Mourad Bey was the one who
fought against the french during the French expedition of Napoleon . He never lost hope to beat the french and expel them out of
Egypt. 
This Mosque is in a town other than Cairo the mosque has the name of the
town itself which is called Dessouk and they are so called the town and
the mosque after a saint called saint Dessouk or in Arabic Sidi
Dessouk. 
This
is a gate of many gates that were surrounding the city of Cairo It is called the
gate of Victory or "Bab El Nasr" . This gate still exist to our days in
Cairo. 
This
is an Egyptian dancer who is wearing a fancy and beautiful dress to prove
that she dances only for the rich people. 
This was a small lake in mid town Cairo , the water was coming
from the Nile which is still at some 3 or 4 km far , and this place used to be
called "Berket El Pheel" or the lake of the Elephant .The place still exist of
course but is called now El Ezbakia . But the nice houses and the lake do not
exist anymore. 
This is a nice Gravure that shows the different types of dresses of the
Egyptians in the year 1800 ...from left to right : a lady , a warrior from
the south , a mamluk prince, and a soldier in the regular army.
This is a beautiful Egyptian house of one ruler called Morad bey ,
unfortunatly the house do not exist anymore . On the other hand there is a
another house that resemble this house and still exist in a zone called El
Mousky and the house is called "Beit El Kadi" Or the house of the judge.
I hope you have enjoyed this collection of
unique Oriental Gravures of the 19 century If you have any question please email
me at
cloutfi@soficom.com.eg