In 1952 the architect Ramses Wissa Wassef and his wife bought land at Harrania, a village within sight of the Giza pyramids, built a workshop and set up looms. The village children who came to weave were held to one rule above all: no sketches. The picture was made on the loom, from what was around them.
The wool is spun, coloured with natural dyes and woven on vertical looms, and one tapestry can take weeks or months. This is a picture for a wall, not a carpet for a floor. An afternoon is enough to watch an image that does not yet know how it ends, and to try a few passes of weft yourself.
Harrania is on the Saqqara road, so it fits a day most visitors already spend among the pyramids.
How it could run
A proposed shape, confirmed with you when it is arranged.
- Walk through the workshops and watch weavers at vertical looms.
- See how the wool is dyed, and the colours a weaver chooses from.
- Look through finished tapestries, from the first generation of weavers to today.
- Try a few passes of weft yourself, if the centre allows it.
%2C_epoca_bizantina%2C_quandrati_con_busti_e_animali_e_strisce_con_uccelli%2C_quadrupedi_e_piante.JPG){kind=link}