Built 400 years ago, Matbouli House consists of four floors and two entrances built in a Hijazi style.
It was recently restored by the eponymous family.
There are two houses in Historic Jeddah from Matbouli’s family. One of these houses was recently opened to the public after restoration. Tariq Matbouli, one of the heirs to the house, said it was closed for around 20 years. Before that the house was rented to private tenants.
“The building is around 350 years old. This is the only house in Jeddah that has arches similar to
Al-Meamar Mosque in style.
The house was closed until Prince Mishal Bin Majed said during a visit to the old city that this house should be renovated and opened so people have a chance to see what is inside.
Prince Sultan Bin Salman said this house would be a great gallery in Historic Jeddah because of its ideal location and space,” he said.
Matbouli said his grandfather used to be the sheikh of the city’s grain traders, and would meet traders and other guests in the hall of the house.
The house had a separate access for visitors, in addition to the main access door, which was separated into two parts because the owner had two wives.
“The hall was for meeting with grain traders and other people. In this hall, my grandfather used to weigh the grain bags, check and stamp them for trade.
During times of war, the house was used as a warehouse to store grains,” he said.
Matbouli was born in the house and lived five years of his boyhood in it.
He explained that life was different then and people cared about each other.
He recalled once incident from his childhood that showed how people trusted each other at the time. One of his neighbors had beaten him, and he went his father complaining.
Instead of consoling him, his father gave him a smack.
He said his father believed that if the neighbor had acted in a rash manner, it was only because his son had done something wrong.
Няма коментари:
Публикуване на коментар