Old Cairo's Beit Tulun is Reborn as a Cultural Space With D-CAF

For years, Beit Tulun stood silent in Old Cairo. Now, after a careful restoration, the historic house reopened as a cultural centre with support from D-CAF, Egypt’s largest multidisciplinary arts festival. Nestled in the shadow of the Ibn Tulun Mosque, one of Cairo’s oldest landmarks, the space launched with Egyptian-Canadian ceramicist Basma Osama’s first exhibition in the Arab world, which ran from October 4th to the 26th. The entrance to Beit Tulun is tucked along the cobblestoned street of Al-Dahdora, its narrow doorway leading to a spiral staircase that climbs three floors before opening onto a rooftop overlooking the thousand-year-old mosque. Architect Dr. Mona Zakaria, who has spent decades reviving the property, recalls first discovering it in 1998 beneath 40 tonnes of garbage. Despite its state, she immediately recognised its promise. Locals told her the house had been “waiting for her” since its last owners left in 1954. After restoring it, Zakaria used Beit Tulun as her architectural office for more than 20 years. “The walls were insulated with braided palm leaves,” Dr. Zakaria explained with a glint in her eye, pointing to the home’s meticulous construction that inspired her over the decades. Now, she hopes to transform the house into a place for dialogue and exchange. Beit Tulun’s reopening also marks Osama’s return to Egypt after three decades abroad. Her exhibition, ‘Reminiscence: From Memory to Matter’, draws on Egypt’s mineral landscapes and her own memories, translating both into abstract ceramic forms made using the ancient coiling technique—rolling and layering clay strands into shape. Each of the items were created from scratch over the past year specifically for Beit Tulun. “I don’t know if I chose Beit Tulun or if it chose me,” Osama says. “From the moment we walked in, it felt like home."