The Doors

When I visited San Miguel de Allende in Central Mexico, the city totally captivated me. Especially the beautiful old, massive wood doors. As we'd walk through the streets of San Miguel (the whole city is a historical monument), I photographed the doors and their casements and brass adornments. Soon after, I was in Restoration Hardware looking at books and there on the shelf was a book titled, "The Doors of San Miguel de Allende!" Well, I had to buy the book and immediately when through it and found doors which I had also photographed. I carefully slipped my photos into the corresponding pages. Since then, I've photographed doors when traveling (unfortunately, all other doors were photographed on film, not digitally). The coast is a door lovers paradise! In fact, Mombasa, Lamu and Zanzibar are known for their carved doors, which are national treasures and have been carried off in the past as booty by invading tribes. Not only was I in ecstasy over seeing these lovely works of art up close, but I have again crossed paths with my hero, Sir Captain Richard Burton. He came through East Africa in the mid-1800's and actually spent time in Mombasa and Lamu! Remember me writing about the movie "Mountains of the Moon" on this blog? It's the story of Burton and Speke's journey to find the source of the Nile (which is Lake Victoria). Well, imagine my great delight to learn they filmed parts of the movie in Lamu. And Baba J. was able to show me the alleys and the fort where some scenes took place. And there's more about my hero Sir Captain Richard Burton! In a booklet about Old Town Mombasa, Burton is quoted writing about the carved doors of the coast. This find is as heart-quickening as when I found Burton's book on the Mormons. While researching my master's thesis, which was a rhetorical analysis of the Book of Mormon, I ran across Burton's book where he traveled from Europe to the US just to interview Brigham Young. Burton wanted to find out more about this curious Western religion that practiced polygamy. Burton had only seen polygamy practiced by Eastern societies. Of course, I own his book entitled, "City of the Saints," written in the 1960s. And here's what Burton said about the carved doors of the East African coast. In addition to being prized possesions, Burton notes, "the higher the tenement, the bigger the gateway, the heavier the padlock and the huger the iron studs which nail the door of heavy timber, the greater is the owner's dignity." When I later tell Anita about Burton having visited Lamu and about the movie being filmed here, she asks simply, "Historical crush?" I think about it. "Yeah," I say, "historical crush." Dream Job Alert! If you're the least bit interested in woodworking, you should consider moving to Lamu and studying the art of door carving. Many doors have been allowed to erode, others have been broken up and sold as souvenirs and others have been looted. But there's still a demand for restored doors and new doors. It's estimated there are about 500 doors left in Zanzibar and around 200 in Lamu. It's unclear the number in Old Town Mombasa, perhaps 100 are still in their frames and in use. I located and photographed several doors while walking the more accessible streets of Old Town. It's easy to get lost in the labyrinth of alleyways, though, so we didn't venture far from the main area. Door carving is an Arab art but has many Indian influences via Zanzibar. In addition to carving wood doors, another dream job would be to travel the coast and document all the doors, photographing and measuring them, capturing the name of the carver if possible, and noting their exact location/address. Seems there are many foundations that might provide grants for this type of documentation, especially those from Arab countries who invest greatly in Lamu and Mambasa, providing Arab schools and hospitals. The Indian style of carving typically sports coffered panels, elaborately carved lintels of leaves and flowers and protruding corbels (normally two) similarly carved. The Lamu or Zanzibar style of carved doors typically has rows of studs, a carved frame of stylized leaves and flowers, the "chain" pattern and extra lintels on the sides. Also, it's common to find Arabic sayings carved into semi-circular, or round-headed, doors. Older Arabic doors favor a more linear and abstract design with stylized rosettes and hooks on the lintel, along with the chain and rope designs typical of the style. Carved doors and Sir Captain Richard Burton. This really is paradise.