Next door to the Ibn Tulun Mosque you’ll find Cairo’s most beguiling museum. Gayer-Anderson Museum, often referred to as The Cretan House, occupies two houses, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, seamlessly joined and filled with an eclectic array of finds. Major Gayer-Anderson, a distinguished British doctor, renovated and furnished the houses between 1935 and 1942.
The stunning, double-storey, marble-floored and carpet-covered reception hall has splendid inlaid wood seating in its alcoves, a mosaic fountain at its centre, and a gallery of delicately carved wooden screens through which women could watch unseen.
In a jigsaw of rooms, courtyards and roof terraces linked by narrow corridors and stone steps, are alabaster and hammered brass tables, ivory and mother of pearl jewellery boxes, painted wood ceilings, and some themed rooms of quite startling decor. Put this high on your must-see list.
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