I never thought I would come back from Zanzibar with a door but yes, I did.
They are one of the major attractions in Stone Town and if you see a place without a door it’s probably because it has been sold to an eager collector.
Many of the door left lack any kind of renovation but they still have that old time charm.
As Zanzibar is a meltin point of Indian, Arab and African culture the differences are also reflected in the doors. So in the past you could tell who the inhabitant of the house was just by looking at the door. Obvisously the richer he was the more intricately decorated the door. For instance, a rich Indian seaborn trader would choose an arched top frame, brass studs (that were used inIndia to protect the doors against elephants) and wave-like patterns, while an Arab man would opt for citations from Quran at the top and frames decorated with chains that reflect the slave trade.
In other words now I know how I will decorate my door in the future so that it is crytsl cleat that I am a multibillionaire.
For the records, the door that I bought is not real size, but just a souvenir that I still have to figure out where to hang.
