An old loveliness, sitting in the district of al-Sayeda Zeinab, is Beit al-Sennari, or the Sennari House. Scientists and artists sought this forgotten place, where culture encased its hardwood floors and history is plastered on its off-white brick walls. Beit al-Sennari is a standing relic and a physical heritage. A remnant of the French bourgeois era in Egypt, the house is located in al-Nasseriya neighborhood, just off the dead-end of Harat Monge (Monge Alley). Built by a wealthy merchant named Ibrahim Khatakhuda al-Sennari in 1794, the house is manicured with the finest wooden mashrabiyya screens, and has a stunning courtyard as well as a well-preserved room complex. The French seized the house by the time of the French expedition in Egypt in 1798. The house served as a place and residence for the members of the Institute for the Commission of Science and Arts that accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte’s military expedition. Their mission was to conduct a systematic study of Egypt, resulting in the composition and publishing of the Description de l’Egypte in 1809. Similar to L’Institut de France, Beit al-Sennari was divided into four sections, mathematics, physics, political economics, and…
