Qasr al-'Ishshah () is a palace complex in Tarim of 'Umar bin Shaikh Al-Kaff, one of the first al-Kaff houses. Shaikh al-Kaff built the house on proceeds made in South Asian trade and investment in Singapore's ''Grand Hotel de l'Europe'' during the 1930s.

Etymology

''Ishshah'' derives from the Arabic root ʿ-sh-sh (), meaning to nest, take root, or establish.

History

Qasr al-'Ishshah is a collection of several buildings constructed over forty years. The first building, ''Dar Dawil'', was built in the 1890s. As Umar's family grew, so did the size of the complex. From 1970 to 1991, Qasr al-'Ishshah was

nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with priv ...

by the government of the

People's Democratic Republic of Yemen South Yemen, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, abbreviated to Democratic Yemen, was a country in South Arabia that existed in what is now southeast Yemen from 1967 until its unification with the Yemen Arab Republic in 19 ...

and the palace was divided up as multi-family housing. The house was then returned to Al-Kaff family, and legal ownership rights are shared amongst many of Shaikh al-Kaff's descendants. In 1997, the Historical Society for the Preservation of Tarim rented half of the house to present the building to the public as a house museum, the only one of its kind in the Hadhramaut.

Architecture

Qasr al-'Ishshah exhibits some of the finest examples of lime plaster decoration (''malas'') in Tarim. The decorative program of the exterior south façade finds its antecedents in Mughal royal architecture, as well as the colonial forms of the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Interior stucco decoration differs from room to room, including Art Nouveau, Rococo, Neo-Classical and combinations of the three.Myntii 1999 The ornamentation often incorporates pilasters along the walls framing openings, built-in cabinetry with skilled wood carvings, elaborate column capitals, decorated ceilings, niches and

kerosene lamp A kerosene lamp (also known as a paraffin lamp in some countries) is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene as a fuel. Kerosene lamps have a wick or mantle as light source, protected by a glass chimney or globe; lamps may be used on a t ...

holders, as well as complex color schemes.

Etymology

History

Architecture

References

Further reading