Rosetta Attractions
The once important port and commercial town of Rosetta (Rashid) lies 9mi/15km above the mouth of the Rosetta arm of the Nile, probably on the site of ancient Boibitine, after which this westerly arm of the river was known in antiquity as the Boibitine arm.
History
Founded in A.D. 870, in the time of the Caliphs, Rosetta was from medieval into modern times the principal Egyptian port and a major center of Mediterranean trade. After the construction of the Mahmudiya Canal, however, it was rapidly overshadowed by Alexandria, which was developed by Mohammed Ali and took the place of Rosetta as a port and commercial center. Rosetta is still an important center of the rice trade, with several rice mills, and also has foodstuff, tobacco and textile industries.
History
Founded in A.D. 870, in the time of the Caliphs, Rosetta was from medieval into modern times the principal Egyptian port and a major center of Mediterranean trade. After the construction of the Mahmudiya Canal, however, it was rapidly overshadowed by Alexandria, which was developed by Mohammed Ali and took the place of Rosetta as a port and commercial center. Rosetta is still an important center of the rice trade, with several rice mills, and also has foodstuff, tobacco and textile industries.
Abu Mandur Mosque
Outside the town, 3mi/5km south, is the Abu Mandur Mosque. From the nearby hill of the same name there is a fine view.
Fort Rosetta
Some of the fortifications to the north and west of the town date from the 16th C. 2mi/3km north is Fort Rosetta, formerly known as Fort Saint-Julien, where the famous Rosetta Stone (now in the British Museum), with a trilingual inscription which led to the decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphs, was discovered during restoration work in 1799.
Houses
Rosetta preserves many handsome old houses of the 17th-19th C., which bear witness to the prosperity and high standards of comfort and good taste of its citizens in the town's heyday. These tall buildings of four or five stories have brick built facades in mosaic patterns of black and red, often with ancient stone built into the walls; the windows have richly decorated lattice screens (mushrabiyas). The following houses are particularly fine: El-Fatari (1620), Arab Keli (18th C.: now a museum) and El-Amaciali (early 19th C.).
Mohammed el-Abbasi Mosque
To the east of the Zaghlul Mosque, near the river, is the Mohammed el-Abbasi Mosque (1809), with a handsome minaret.
Zaghlul Mosque
The mosques of Rosetta differ from other Egyptian mosques in the simplicity and clarity of their structure and their restrained decoration: only the doorway and the mihrab have the lavish ornament of the Arab-Egyptian style, often using fine faience. At the end of the main street, which runs south from the railroad station, with the picturesque covered bazaars, stands the large Zaghlul Mosque, a combination of two older mosques which achieves an astonishing harmony. It has more than 300 columns from various earlier buildings, their varying heights adjusted by the removal or duplication of capitals.
