Baron Empain Palace – Places to Visit in Cairo Egypt
Discover Egypt’s modern history Building “Modern Egypt Civilization” the most important tourist attractions in Cairo and the oldest historical buildings before and after restoration from the inside and outside.
Information about the Baron Empain Palace, the most terrifying and mysterious in Egypt, and the secrets of the palace from the inside, the pink room, and what is the condition of the palace now after renovation and restoration to start your cultural journey and visit the tourist attractions in Cairo in addition to the distinctive entertainment and archaeological tourist attractions in Egypt
Baron Empain Palace Facts
A complete description of the palace from the inside and outside, its story, and the myths that tell about it, both true and false, in addition to learning about its location, visiting times, and more.
One of the most exciting tourist areas in Cairo is Baron Palace, located on Salah Salem Road, in Heliopolis, the oldest and most upscale Old Cairo neighborhoods.
The palace was built between 1852 and 1929 AD. The palace is located on Al-Uruba Street, which branches off from Salah Salem Street, and is surrounded by several famous streets such as Ibn Battuta Street and Hassan Sadek Street in Heliopolis, Cairo Governorate..
Baron Palace is an architectural masterpiece and a legendary palace, not only in its design, but in the legends and sayings that revolve around it.
As for the design of the palace, it is enough to know that it is a palace in which the sun never sets. The palace was built by the Belgian millionaire, Baron Edouard Empain, when he came from India to Egypt after the opening of the Suez Canal..
The idea of building the palace began in the desert east of Cairo, where Baron Empain at the time was thinking carefully about building a large suburb.
He began by building buildings and a metro linking the heart of the capital to the palace, currently known as the Heliopolis Metro Station, under the supervision of the Belgian engineer Andre Berchelot, in addition to building a large hotel that has now become one of the presidential palaces of the Egyptian government..
The engineer and architect Alexander Marcel relied on the architectural designs of the Indian civilization in the Orissa Temple and the Angkorwat Temple in the Indian city of Cambodia, in addition to hiring the engineer George Louis Claude for the interior decorations of the palace. The entire building was completed in 1911 AD..
Owner of Empain Palace:
Baron Empain was a famous architect who made a lot of money and traveled to different parts of the world.
When his ship landed on the shores of Egypt, he loved it and decided to stay there until his death. The idea of establishing the Baron Palace began when he suggested to the Egyptian government the establishment of a neighborhood in the desert east of Cairo and chose the name “Heliopolis City” for it, meaning the city of the sun. It is currently the Heliopolis neighborhood..
After purchasing the palace land, Baron Ambarne commissioned the Belgian engineer André Berchoux to build a metro line in the city, which remained in operation until recently, the Cairo Metro, and he also built a series of houses in the classic Belgian style with spacious gardens, in addition to a huge hotel in the city of Heliopolis..
Baron Empain Palace from the inside
Your visit to the palace will begin with a view of balconies resting on statues in the form of Indian elephants, in addition to statues of Indian and Buddhist style and culture.
You will find a rare clock, of which there is only one in Buckingham Palace in England. The clock is distinguished by displaying the time in terms of displaying days, months, years, daily temperature changes, and the change in the moon’s rotation around the Earth..
The palace consists of 7 rooms on two floors. The first floor consists of 3 guest rooms, a hall, Baron Empain’s room, and a hall for practicing sports and playing billiards. The second floor consists of 4 bedrooms, each with its own bathroom..
You will find the palace floors made of original marble, alabaster and parquet wood, in addition to the workers’ and servant’s rooms in the basement..
In the palace, you will see a group of statues plated with gold, platinum, and bronze, and a statue of the legendary dragon, in addition to seeing a tower on the left side of 4 floors with wooden sides and distinctive marble, engravings and decorations on the wall, and statues from the Indian civilization..
Baron Empain was keen to import all kinds of marble from Italy and crystal glass from Belgium, where he built a tower that rotates one full cycle every 60 minutes in addition to building a large garden that includes a group of rare ornamental plants. You will also find a tunnel connecting the palace to the Basilica Church.
The palace covers an area of 12,500 square meters. It was designed by the French architect Alexandre Marcel and decorated by Georges Louis Claude. It is a palace inspired by the Anko Wat Temple in Cambodia and the Hindu temples of Orissa..
From the inside, it is a small palace consisting of only seven rooms distributed over two floors. Its external balconies are supported by statues of Indian elephants. Ivory is widespread inside and outside the palace, and there are many statues of gold and platinum..
The palace was designed in a way that the sun never sets on its rooms. It has a tower that rotates every hour, so that whoever sits in it can see everything surrounding the palace.
The roof of the palace is more like a park for holding parties, as it contains plant and animal drawings, and one can ascend to it by a wooden ladder made of luxurious roses..
Baron Empain was interested in buying Indian and European statues, especially those made of white marble, but many of them disappeared and deteriorated over time. You will see statues of dancers, elephants, and decorations from Greek, Roman, and Hellenic cultures..
Since the death of the Baron in 1292 AD, the palace was neglected and became abandoned, until the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Egyptian government issued a decision to include it in the Egyptian Tourism and Antiquities Sector, which began the process of restoration and care to transform it into a museum or palace affiliated with the Egyptian presidency..
4Myths and fairy tales about palace goblins and ghosts:
Myth 1: Hearing strange sounds of furniture being moved in the palace in the middle of the night, in addition to the sudden lighting up of the backyard of the palace..
Myth 2: Thick smoke emanated from the palace room and then suddenly disappeared in 1982 AD
Ambani lived with a congenital defect, a limp in his feet, and then suffered from epilepsy and seizures from time to time..
The third myth: The magical pink room that only Empain could enter, is located in the palace basement and has doors.
It takes you to a tunnel to the Basilica Church..
The fourth myth: The mystery of the murder of Empain’s sister “Helana”, as she fell from her balcony while the tower was rotating, as until this day people believe that there are ghosts in her room in the palace, as there are stories that Empain was late in saving his sister, which led to the tower’s rotation stopping until his death, and he buried her in the desert of Heliopolis, and many stories and fantasies about Empain retrieving his sister’s spirit to apologize to her..
Baron Palace restoration after renovation:
The palace is currently being completely restored to reopen at the end of 2019 at a cost of 110 million Egyptian pounds. The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and Culture is directing its opening as a museum for antiquities in addition to holding parties on the roof of the palace..
It witnessed several engineering works and 90% of the restoration of the facades, restoration of the decorations on the walls, restoration of the palace ceiling, restoration of the columns made of holes and metal windows, restoration of the statues, in addition to preserving the same exterior color of the palace, which is white with a burnt brick color..
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Palace of Baron Empain of Cairo Egypt | History of the most important and oldest construction in the Heliopolis district.
