Painting the town . . . blue
QUESTION What is the dye used to paint Moroccan houses blue?
IMAGES of blue moroccan houses are usually depictions of the beautiful city of Chefchaouen in the north-west, though there are examples around the country.
Legend has it the colour added to the limewash was royal purple, a dye extracted from the shells of the murex snail and beloved by aristocratic Romans and greeks. The truth is more prosaic: it is extracted from leaves of the indigo plant.
Chefchaouen translates as two horns in arabic, a reference to the mountain that is split in two by the slope on which the city was founded in 1471. Over the centuries, it welcomed muslim and Jewish refugees from spain.
sultan mohammed ben abdallah ordered the Jewish families to move into the walled alleyways of the medina or old city in 1760. They built limewashed houses with small balconies, tiled roofs and andalusian-style courtyards.
Indigo was added to the limewash to contrast the mellah, or Jewish quarter, with the traditional green of Islam.
To make the dye, indigo leaves are soaked in water and fermented to convert the naturally present glycoside indican into the blue indigotin. The precipitate from the fermented leaf solution is mixed with a strong base such as lye. Today, most indigo is synthetic.
Dyes of all hues are sold by weight in morocco’s markets, one of the enduring images of this vibrant country.
Janette Weaver, Haywards Heath, W. Sussex.
QUESTION Why was the Carlton Tavern in Maida Vale, West London, rebuilt from scratch?
THE Carlton Tavern replaced a pub on the same site that had been destroyed by a german bomb in the gotha air raids of may 19-20, 1918.
Noted for its unaltered 1920s interiors and tiled exterior, it was the only building in the street to survive the Blitz.
In 2015, it was in the process of being considered for grade II listing by Historic england when it was demolished by its owner, Tel aviv-based Israeli property developer CLTX, to make way for flats.
The landlady had been asked to close the pub for an ‘inventory’, but when she returned two days later she found that most of the building had been destroyed.
Westminster City Council issued an unprecedented enforcement notice ordering CLTX to ‘recreate in facsimile the building as it stood immediately prior to its demolition’. The notice prevented it from selling the site until this had been done.
Thankfully, english Heritage had surveyed the pub, making records of the layout, tiles and original details, so all the architectural information was available.
It was rebuilt by Charrington Brewery and architect Frank J. Potter was faithful to its original design, from the brick and tile facade to the swooping brass door handles and elaborate interior plasterwork. It was reopened on april 12, 2021, in time for its 100th anniversary.
Penny Richards, London W8.
QUESTION Is there any evidence for the ten plagues described in Exodus?
THE Ipuwer Papyrus is the only surviving manuscript of an ancient egyptian poem that might confirm parts of the Biblical account.
exodus 7-9 tells of ten plagues unleashed upon egypt by god in retribution for the Pharaoh’s refusal to release the chosen people from captivity. Prophesied by moses, the plagues precede the exodus of the Israelites across the Red sea and handing down of the Ten Commandments.
In scripture, the plagues escalated in intensity. They began with water turning into blood. egypt was then swarmed with frogs, lice, swarms of flies and a pestilence upon livestock.
exodus 9 describes a plague of boils followed by a thunderstorm of hail and fire.
swarms of locusts then arrived, after which darkness descended for three days. The final, deadliest, plague saw every firstborn son of egypt die, including the Pharaoh’s son. The key cross reference is the Nile turned to blood, exodus 7:19: ‘and the Lord spake unto moses, say unto aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of egypt . . . that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of egypt . . .’
The Ipuwer Papyrus has this passage: ‘Plague is throughout the land. Blood is everywhere’ ( 2: 5- 6). ‘ The river is blood . . . men shrink from tasting — human beings, and thirst after water’ (2:10). ‘ That is our water! That is our happiness! What shall we do in respect thereof? all is ruin’ (3:10-13).
It makes oblique references to four other plagues: ‘all animals, their hearts weep. Cattle moan’ (5:5), which may refer to the pestilence suffered by livestock.
‘Forsooth, gates, columns and walls are consumed by fire’ (2:10) could refer to the great thunderstorm, though there is no mention of hail.
‘The land is without light’ (9:11) may refer to the three days of darkness.
‘Forsooth, the children of princes are dashed against the walls’ (4:3 and 5:6) and ‘Forsooth, the children of princes are cast out in the streets’ (6:12) could be a reference to the death of firstborn sons.
The frogs, lice, flies, boils and locusts don’t get a mention in the papyrus.
The assertion this is proof of the exodus account is not widely accepted among scholars. Disparities include the papyrus describing the arrival of tribes to egypt rather than a departure.
The statement the ‘river is blood’ could refer to the red sediment colouring the Nile during floods or it may be a poetic image of turmoil.
Cathy Townsend, Keswick, Cumbria.