Gayer-Anderson Museum

What is the Gayer-Anderson Museum?

It is a pair of Ottoman-era merchants' houses, joined by a bridge at upper-floor level, preserved with the furniture and art collected by Major Robert Gayer-Anderson. The older house was built in 1540 and the larger one in 1631; together they are known as Bayt al-Kritliya, the House of the Cretan Woman, after a later owner. Gayer-Anderson, a British army doctor and collector, was allowed to live here from 1935 on condition that the house and its contents would pass to the Egyptian state, which they did when he left in 1942.

He furnished the rooms in themes from across the Islamic world and beyond, and the result is part historic house, part one man's cabinet of curiosities. He is also remembered as the donor of the famous bronze Gayer-Anderson Cat, now in the British Museum in London.

What should you see in the house?

The main reception hall, the screened harem rooms above it, the themed rooms and the rooftop.

• The qa'a (reception hall): a double-height hall with a marble fountain set into the floor and a painted wooden ceiling, where the men of the house received guests.
• The mashrabiya galleries: from the upper floor, women of the household could look down into the qa'a through fine turned-wood lattice screens without being seen. Stand behind the screens to see how well they work.
• The themed rooms: among them a Damascus room with 18th-century painted wood panelling, a Persian room, a Chinese room, a Byzantine room and a Queen Anne room furnished in English style.
• The courtyards and the well: the well in the courtyard has a local legend attached: it is said to lead to the underground palace of a jinn king and to have curative water.
• The rooftop: with mashrabiya-screened terraces and a view straight onto the walls and spiral minaret of Ibn Tulun next door.

Was the Gayer-Anderson Museum in a James Bond film?

Yes; the house appears in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), in which Roger Moore's Bond visits it while searching for a microfilm. The scene used the courtyards and rooftop, with the minaret of Ibn Tulun in the background, and film fans still come to find the spot. The same film used other Egyptian locations, including the Giza pyramids and Karnak.

Even without the Bond connection, the house is beloved of photographers. Light filtering through the mashrabiya makes soft, patterned shadows, and the empty rooms are often quiet enough to frame without other visitors; see our photography in Egypt guide for camera rules at monuments.

What does the house reveal about life in Ottoman Cairo?

It shows how wealthy Cairo households were arranged around privacy and keeping cool: a public reception side for male guests, a private family side above, and architecture designed to move air without air-conditioning. The qa'a has a sunken central floor with the fountain, flanked by raised seating areas where guests sat on cushions, and its high ceiling draws warm air upwards. The mashrabiya screens shade the rooms and let breezes through, and water jars were traditionally placed in the window niches to cool in the draught, which is where the name, from the Arabic for drinking, is often said to come from.

Notice too how the houses turn inwards. The street façades are plain, the entrances bend so passers-by cannot see inside, and the life of the house faces its courtyards. It is the same logic you see in Bayt al-Suhaymi on Al-Muizz Street, the other great house museum of the old city.

How long do you need, and when should you go?

Forty-five minutes to an hour is enough for most visitors; come in the morning and pair it with Ibn Tulun next door. Rooms are small and stairs are narrow and steep in places, so groups move slowly; if a coach group is inside, see the mosque first and come back. Labels are limited, which is a good reason to visit with a guide who can explain how the house was used.

Opening hours and ticket prices change, so check them on egymonuments.gov.eg before you go. Some rooms close from time to time for conservation.

How do you get there?

Ask a taxi for the Mosque of Ibn Tulun in Sayyida Zeinab; the museum entrance is on the street running along the mosque's south-eastern side. It is 15–30 minutes from downtown or Zamalek and about five minutes by car from Sultan Hassan and the Citadel.

The natural pairing is the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, whose wall the house shares, followed by the Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan and the Citadel uphill. Together they make a full, unhurried morning in the southern half of Islamic Cairo.