The elaborately carved wooden doors of Stone Town manifest the cultural roots of Zanzibar. The clash of Swahili, Arab, and Indian traditions is probably most notable in the design of Zanzibar doors. If you look close enough, these giant teak masterpieces tell stories of the residents’ social status, religion, and profession. Wonderfully carved doors hiding the meaning behind each centimeter of these complicated depictions. When building a new house, the first part was the door: not just for safety reasons, but also as a kind of “business card” of the inhabitants.
