Cairo museum showcases Ottoman treasures from Egypt, Türkiye

CAIRO

This file photo shows the ornate stone facade of the Museum of Islamic Art located in Cairo, Egypt. (Getty Images)

In the heart of the Egyptian capital Cairo stands the Museum of Islamic Art housing treasures that span centuries of Islamic history.

The building’s significance extends beyond its striking architectural design, as it is home to what the museum describes as “the world’s largest specialized museum of Islamic art,” housing more than 100,000 rare artifacts that reflect the richness and diversity of Islamic civilization across different periods.

Its collections include a notable group of artifacts from the Ottoman era in Egypt and Türkiye, some of which reflect remarkable artistic exchanges between Istanbul and Cairo.

The museum’s collections are notable both for their size and diversity, encompassing manuscripts and objects related to medicine, surgery and herbal remedies, as well as astronomical instruments such as astrolabes, compasses and celestial globes.

They also include applied arts associated with everyday life, including metal, glass and ceramic vessels, as well as jewelry, weapons, woodwork, ivory, textiles and carpets.

Among the most prominent artifacts is a turned-wood mashrabiya dating to the Ottoman era in Egypt in the 16th and 17th centuries.

According to the museum, wooden screens with openings used to cover windows appeared as early as the Ayyubid period and later developed into the form of the mashrabiya.

During the Ottoman period, mashrabiyas took the form of projecting balconies. Their functions included reducing the intensity of sunlight and humidity while preserving privacy in rooms overlooking courtyards or streets by preventing people outside from seeing into homes.

Another exhibit is a collection of Ottoman ceramic tiles dating to the 18th century. The tiles are painted in multiple colors beneath a transparent glaze and decorated with floral motifs centered around a mihrab from which a mosque lamp hangs.

The museum also displays a painted wooden fireplace decorated with ceramic tiles, dating to the Ottoman era in Egypt in the 17th century.

Decorative designs featuring Ottoman floral motifs were often first produced in Türkiye and then transferred to Egypt, where local artists reproduced them. This contributed to similarities between many artistic works produced in the two countries during the period.

The collection also includes a ceramic panel depicting the Grand Mosque in Mecca, dating to the 17th-century Ottoman period in Egypt.

The museum also houses two stained-glass windows set in plaster, dating to the Ottoman era in Egypt in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Muslim artisans excelled at using the reflection of light to create aesthetic atmospheres inside buildings.

Among the museum’s Ottoman holdings is also a wool-and-cotton carpet dating to 16th-century Ottoman Egypt. The style is known as “palace carpets” or “court carpets,” an unconventional style in Ottoman carpet decoration.

The collection further includes an 18th-century Ottoman marble tombstone from Egypt. It consists of three sections, one side of which bears inscriptions in Thuluth script, including the Muslim declaration of faith.

Also on display are “khadda bowls” made of copper and bronze and engraved with talismans and inscriptions referring to their supposed therapeutic benefits. They date from the 12th through the 18th centuries and originate from Egypt, Iran and Türkiye.

The gallery also displays two wool-and-cotton prayer rugs from 18th-century Ottoman Türkiye, attributed to the Turkish city of Gördes.

According to their display labels, Turkish cities were renowned for producing prayer rugs, with each city developing its own style for designing mihrabs. Türkiye also became known for another type called “saff carpets,” characterized by a series of adjoining mihrabs designed for use during congregational prayers.