A couple of weeks ago someone commented on one of my posts that he really liked the article but didn’t know who the author was. Many of you have been part of the site’s evolution, and some of you know me personally. When I write these posts I feel like I’m talking to you…either explaining a difficult code-related topic, or chuckling with you over a creative solution. So unless I state otherwise, the author is me! Same with the photos. I try to be very careful about giving proper photo credit, so if you don’t see a mention of who sent me the photo, the photographer is usually me.
Each month, one of my blog posts is published in Doors & Hardware magazine, as part of my Decoded series. The column has been running for 3 YEARS! But my next piece for Doors & Hardware is a photo essay on the doors that I saw this summer in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (remember last year’s photo essay on Morocco?), and I need your help. Along with many amazingly beautiful and unique doors in SMA, there are door knockers galore. I want to include some of them in my article, but how do I choose? I ask you, of course! Which ones should I include?
1: This one reminds me of wind.
2: The hand was a common theme, but this one is gigantic!
3: Does this type of bird hang upside down?
4: I love how weathered this one is. The door too.
5: Beautiful patina.
6: A cherub.
7. This one looks devilish to me.
8. Another beautiful ring.
9. Another hand, this time with a cuff.
10. Another scary one.
11. I tried to take photos of this door so many times but there were always cars parked in front of it. Until the day I finally got there at just the right time. I think this one is a keeper.
12. Whose face is this?
13. This is like a combination knocker / pull.
14. A simple hand, with a ring
15. I think this is a lion.
16. Another face.
17. A mask.
18. I like the other elements of this photo, along with the pull / knocker.
19. So sad that she is painted over.
20. Yet another hand.
21. This one is very unique.
22. Mr. Sun. Or Señor Sol.
23. I wonder what a symbol of a turtle means.
Leave a comment and let me know which ones are your favorites!
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Lori,
What a fun way to end my work day! My favorites are 3, 11, 16, 18, and 23. My daughter loves turtles so that one had to go on the list. 11 really is fantastic and I love all the colors on the door. I love seeing the pictures from your travels. Thanks for sharing!
Mary
I vote for 2, 11, and 23 as clever and picturesque.
9,10,17,21
It’s a fine set of knockers but the hand ones are my favorites – #14 in particular
These two are my favorite, because they remind me most of the region.
17. PreColombian Man Mask
23. La Tortuga
The hands are really interesting too; why do you think they were so popular?
I was wondering about the hand too. I looked online and found this blog post: http://terrytreks.wordpress.com/tag/door-knocker/ which talks about the Hand of Fatima. I didn’t initially make the connection because the symbol I know as the hand of Fatima doesn’t look anything like the hands in SMA. But the door knocker the blogger was writing about is very similar to the one with the cuff, and he found it in Southern Spain where it would make sense that it could be a hand of Fatima. Here’s another blog post that goes into pretty good detail about the history of the hand knocker: http://voyseyandjones.wordpress.com/tag/fatima-hand-door-knocker/, including a theory that the fruit present in some of the hands could be tied to the apple in the Garden of Eden. The Hand of Fatima, also called the khamsa (the Arabic word for “5”) provides protection from the Evil Eye.
Sun and wind…
[Haven’t these people ever heard of DOOR BELLS?]
Doorbells wouldn’t be nearly as pretty! Although many houses there do have doorbells or intercoms. The entrance doors also have another cool feature – a little (10 x 10ish) door that opens so you can talk to whoever is outside, with a decorative metal grate over it. Someday I’m going to replace my front door with a custom dutch door with a glass lite in the bottom for the dog to look out, and a little door in the top so I can tell people to go away. 🙂
Just realized why the hand ones grab me. They remind me of Thing from the Addams Family.
I prefer #2 and #14
i vote for 2, 5, and 8. These are very rarely found and give very unique look to any entryway.