Although examples of similar doors can be seen in the

East African Doors old Arabian trading ports of the Red Sea and Persian Gulf,
as well as in Goa and the Gujarati trading towns of the west
by J.S. Aldrick coast of India, East Africa is one of the last places where
they still exist in large numbers and, moreover, a continuing
Undoubtedly the most distinctive artistic feature of the tradition of door carving is practised. The Swahili doors
architecture of the coastal towns of East Africa is the rcprcscnt a late tlourishing of a very old artistic tradition
wooden carved doors. It is therefor e surprising how little which was a feature of the Islamic trading towns of the
information there is about them and how no one has hither- Indian Occan circle. Fcw of the doors seen in East Africa
to tried to classify or idcntify thc different styles and types today datc earlicr than th e 19th ccntury, but there is evi-
to be seen. dence, both archa eological and documentary, that carved
Zanzibar has by far the largest number with over 500 doors existed in the Swahili towns of the 14th and 15th
framed doors in the Stone Town and countless othcrs of centuries, and that therc was a continuing tradition which
simPler type in the suburbs of Ngambo and the villagcs. was revived in the 19th century when the East African coast
Lamu has over 200, while Mombasa at latest count has once morc became part of an important trading route and
fewer than 100. Others can be seen in both the old-estab- enjoyed rencwed prosperity.
lished towns of the Lamu archipelago and those al ong the Th e fashion for carvcd and dccorated doors is well
coast such as Bagamoyo, Kilwa, Vanga and Takaungu . In established in th e Islamic world . Elaborately carved
Kenya these doors are increasingly endangered by t he mod- wooden doors are seen in mosques, royal palaces and on
ernization and rebuilding that is taking place, and many of the fortified ware houses known as hans or khans. However,
the flDest doors have been already lost as old buildings are it is only on the Swahili coast that carved doors survive in
demolished and replaced . It is to be hoped that the gazet- such profusion and in relatively humble dwellings. It seems
tingofLamu and Mombasa Old Town as 'Historical Monu- that in East Africa, the avail ab ility of timber and craftsmen
ments' will succeed in preserving for future generations the meant that a large number of people were able to enjoy the
remaining doors in their original settings. status of a carved door. In the societies of the Gulf and
Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2013)

Door carvers at work This door, which took six months to complete, was exported to Oman Courtesy of Friends of Fon Jesus

14
 Arabian peninsula, ture, can be moved
where wood was a from house to
rare and precious house. Indeed, in
commodity, a the 1587 sack of
carved door was a Faza by the Por-
luxury available tuguese, inhabi-
only to the wealthy tants of the nearby
few. The idea of a town of Pate were
carved door being a observed carrying
coveted status sym- away the doors as
bol seems to have part of the booty.
originated from The art of door
Arabia and to have carving links closely
spread wherever with that of dhow
Arab influence and building. The same
trade penetra ted. wood is frequently
Thus we know that used and craftsmen
in 1856 in Harar, who worked on the
eastern Ethiopia, dhows used to carve
the door was con- doors as a lucrative
sidered a 'venerable side line. Many of
and val uable ar- the decorative mo-
ticle', while in the tifs on doors relate
Pun jab, according A kotia under sail, notice the carvinKand decoration on the flu.t transom stem to seafaring as can
to George Watt Courtesy of John JeweU be seen from the
writing in 1903, frequent use of
'persons with any pretensions to social position consider rope, chain and fish scale patterns; those who owned the
Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2013)

it essential to have a carved door'. Burton recording his doors were generally traders and Ship-owners.
impressions of Zanzibar in the mid-19th century noticed Although very few old dhows have survived, some idea
that 'the higher the tenement, the bigger the gateway, the of how their decoration interrelated with that on doors can
heavier the padlock and the huger the iron studs which nail be seen from photographs. The baghlah, the largest of the
the door of heavy ti mber, the grea ter is the owner's digni ty.' ocean going dhows, was particularly ornately carved.
Carved doors not only represented the prestige of a rich Traditionally built at Sur, in Oman, these dhows were
merchant but also provided protection for the goods frequent callers to the East African coast until 1920. An
stored behind. The array of bolts, locks and studs, besides Indian type of dhow called a karia, from Cutch, still to be
looking decorative, was also an effective deterrent while seen in Mombasa in the 1940s, also made use of elaborate
the feature of the central door post, which masked the carving work on the flat transom stern. It is interesting to
closing join of the double doors, made uninvited entry note that Red Sea craft, such as the sambuk and zarook,
almost impossible. tended to have more painted than carved decoration. The
The doors are made up of many separate pieces of wood smaller coasting craft, which would tranS-Ship goods to the
that slot together largely without the use of nails and can main ports, often had a panel of decoration on the stern
be transported in pieces and assembled on arrival. It is and scrollwork at the bow. The mtepe, traditional craft of
possible that several of the earliest and finest doors came the Bajun people, had painted roundels called dhow eyes
by dhow to East Africa this way and were not made locally. and zig-zag designs.
A number of late 19th century doors are known to have Just as there were various types of dhows so too were
been made in India and brought in when the family settled, there different styles of doors, which originally roughly
while doors carved today in Lamu and Mombasa are corresponded to ownerShip. Thus the door of a Busaidi
Shipped to Oman where carved doors continue to be sultan differed from that of an Indian merchant, which in
fashionable. A carved door, like a valuable piece of furni- turn differed from that of a Swahili living perhaps in the

15
 Ngambo quarter of Zanzibar. The diversity of doors is As a result of surveys carried out from 1985 to 1987,
evidence of how a variety of tastes, traditions and people when nearly 500 doors in Mombasa, Lamu and Zanzibar
coexisted in these coastal towns and how styles and ideas were photographed and catalogued, it is now possible to
t.:ought in by settlers, who came in ever increasing num- identify at least eight distinct types of door which are
bers during the 19th century, were assimilated and adapted commonly to be seen in Kenya. No doubt with more.
to local use. research others will emerge.

1. Lamu Style Doors This is the simplest type, where

generally only the centre-post is carved. Usually there
is no frame nor lintel. This door occurs setback in the
daka, or entrance porch, which is such a feature of
Lamu house architecture. Eighteenth century fashion
in Lamu did not make much use of carved wood, and
the principal decoration was found in plasterwork and
beams painted in stripes of red, black and white.
The diagram illustrates the main features.
Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2013)

2. Sill Style Doors This door type is a northern variation

and not found south of the Tana. Its outstanding feature is
the extended lintel, which acts as a clasp to hold the frame
together. Usually the designs are lightly engraved d,ther
than deeply carved, and there is a connectiori with', Siu
which was an im portant cen tre of craftsmanship in the early
19th century specializing in lacquered furniture and em-
I
bossed leather-work.
The diagram shows how the lintel overlaps the door
frame and also how this style lacks a centre post. The deli-
cate designs are painted and engraved; the door panels have
black and white geometric patterns. There is an iron ring
at the top of the door and an iron lock at the bottom.

16
 3. Bajuni Doors This style appears to be a late northern
variation and derives from the earlier Siu style. The chip
carving and use of geometric roundels recalls the designs
on the mtepe, traditional craft of the Bajun people.
The illustration was photographed in Lamu.

Courtesy of Friends of Fort Jesus

4. Framed Doors (Rosette Style) This is the most wide·
spread· and important door style to be seen in East Africa
tOday. Usually the lintel has a design of rosettes and occa-
sionally is inscribed and dated in Arabic. The earliest door
of this type now found in situ is in Lamu and has a date of
1797. The style can be connected with the increasing set-
tlement from Oman and was chosen by the Busaidi Sultans
Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2013)

to decorate their new palaces. POSSibly, the finest were

made in Persia. Later they were copied and made locally,
usually without arabic inscriptions.

5. Unframed Doors (Wavy line style) This is a late vari-

ation of the Framed or Rosette type. Largely found south
of the Tana, the heavy frame is left plain and the lintel
carved with a running design of palmettes and rosettes
similar to that found on the coasting craft used in the
southern regions.
The photograph is of an unusual old window which was
in Mombasa until, unfortunately, it was broken up and
removed in 1986. See how the frame is left uncarved and
the lintel has a design of alternating palmettes set within a
weaving tendril and a central rosette.

Courtesy of Friends of Fort Jesus

17
 6. Gujerati Style Doors This is an Indian-style door orig-
inating in Cutch and brought from there by traders who
settled and became wealthy at the end of the 19th century,
The finest examples are found in Mombasa and Zanzibar.
The outstanding feature is the lolla, or corbel, which marks
the connection between an inner and outer frame. These
doors were generally made of teak and imported from
India.
The photograph shows an example from Mombasa.
Note the lolla at the top corners and the coffered design
on the door panels.

Courtesy of Friends ot Fort Jesus

7. Indian Neo-c1assical Doors These teak, round-headed
doors, with spokes as in a fanlight or cartwheel, were com-
monly found in British India. They may be seen particularly
in Mombasa which came under British administration in
1887 and, again, were usually imported.
Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2013)

The photograph was taken in Mombasa.

Courtesy of Friends of Fort Jesus

8. Late Zanzibar Style Doors This is the most elaborate

of all the doors and the type still popularly carved today.
The design was introduced by Sultan Bargash who ruled
Zanzibar from 1870 to 1888. Based on Kashmiri designs,
the first doors were carved by mainly Punjabi carpenters
working in Bombay. However they became so fashionable
that they were copied in Zanzibar and increasingly made
locally. Fundi Kij uma (1855-1945), most well-known door
carver ofLamu, was influenced by this style during his time
at the Court of Zanzibar.
The example shown is in Zanzibar.

18
 From this survey it can be seen that the doors fall into ing importance of trade with India is reflected in the door
three groupings, doors from north of the Tana river, doors styles at the end of the nineteenth century.
introduced by Omani settlers and doors originating from The feature of the carved, central door post appears in
India. There was a natural cultural divide between the nearly all styles and is most prominent on locally carved
areas north and south of the Tana river, with the northern doors. Old funeral pillars of the Giriama people and coastal
tending to draw on influences and fashions coming from domestic utensils were often carved with patterns similar
Egypt and the Red Sea, and the southern part having more to those found on door posts. Unlike the frame and lintel
trading links with India and the Gulf. This divide became which served no useful purpose and were purely decorative,
less marked during the course of the 19th century under the centre-post acted as a simple but effective lock and
the Busaidi Sultanate based in Zanzibar, while the increas- appears to be part of an old and established practice,.

, • , , II

I I • I I

I I I • I
Reproduced by Sabinet Gateway under licence granted by the Publisher (dated 2013)

I I I I •

;I
,.
Diagram showing the internal arrangement of a typical door. At the sides are reproductions of a section of centre-post

Acknowledgements The author

The photographs, apart from the picture of the dhow which is by Judy Aldrick went to Mombasa in 1982. Previously she worked
John Jewell, are all from the Friends of Fort Jesus Collection, for the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich and later lived in
Mombasa, and were takcn by M. Taffe, J. Maitland-Jones and R. Tokyo, Japan, for some years She is co-author of The OUi Town
A1drick. Mombasa: A Historical Guide, and has written various articles on
Thanks are due to S. Khan for his help with the diagrams of the coastal subjects, Recently she received an MLitt from the Univer-
Lamu and Rosette doors and for the illustration of the method of Sity of Durham for a thesis entitled The Nineteenth Century Carved
construction. Doors of Mombasa and the East African Coast. Currently she is
working on a buildings record for the Mombasa Old Town Con-
servation Project and is Chairman of the Friends of Fort Jesus.

19