Mashrabiya (turned-wood lattice screen)
Mashrabiya (celosía de madera torneada)
- Date
- c. century XII · confidence low
- Place
- Cairo, Egypt
- Credited to
- Carpenters of the Arab world
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A projecting window covered with a lattice of turned wooden pieces joined without nails. It lets breezes and filtered light in, cools the air and protects the household's privacy.
The name and element are associated with Mamluk Cairo, but there are precedents in Baghdad and other Abbasid cities; origin and chronology are uncertain and the oldest dated examples are later.
What it led to
- natural ventilation and privacy of Arab houses
- geometric nailless joinery
- inspiration for contemporary passive-shading façades