Baron Palace
Baron Palace in French ( Le Palais Hindou ) : It is inspired by the historic mansion of Indian architecture built by the Belgian millionaire Baron Edward Empain ( 20September 1852 – 22 July 1929 ), And who came to Egypt from India At the end of Nineteenth century Soon after the opening Suez Canal. The palace is located in the heart of the district Heliopolis In Cairo, specifically on Al-Oruba Street, in Salah Salem Street On the main road to Cairo International Airport The palace also overlooks Ibn Battuta Street, Ibn Jubair and Hassan Sadiq.
The engineer :
At the end of the nineteenth century, exactly several years after the opening of the Suez Canal, the millionaire arrived Belgian Edward Empain To Cairo, Egypt. Edward Empain used to hold the title Barron and he was awarded a king France In recognition of his efforts to create a metro Paris. Impan was a traveler
Arriving in Egypt :
The Baron Empain has arrived Cairo , and it wasn’t days before the man fell in love Egypt To the point of madness, he made a fateful decision to remain in Egypt until his death. He wrote in his will that he be buried in the soil of Egypt even if he passed away . It was natural for those who made such a decision to search for him for permanent residence in the place he loved. The strangest thing was the choice of Baron Empain for a place in the desert, near Cairo.
The idea of building a palace :
The idea of building the palace belongs to Baron Empain, who presented to the Egyptian government the idea of creating a neighborhood in the desert east of Cairo and chose for him a name (Heliopolis) Which Sun City The Baron bought acres for only one pound, as the area lacked facilities, transportation and services, and until the Baron could attract people to its new suburb, consider Create a metro Still working so far and taking the name of the city as Metro Heliopolis He commissioned the Belgian engineer Andrei Bracello Who was working at that time with the Paris metro company to create a metro line linking the new neighborhood or city to Cairo, and he also started building houses in the classic Belgian style in addition to large areas that include wonderful gardens, and built a huge hotel is Old Heliopolis Hotel Which recently joined the presidential palaces in Egypt
The Baron decided to establish a palace, so it was a legendary palace, and it was designed so that the sun does not go away as it enters all its rooms and lobbies, and it is one of the most luxurious palaces in Egypt at all. And wine continues in the heads, that is, what wine does in the heads of its drinkers.
Get inspired by a temple Anchor Wat In Cambodia And temples Orissa Hinduism. Designed by the French architect
Alexander Marcel , Alexander Marcel It was decorated by George Louis Claude Georges Louis Claude General construction completed 1911 .
Description of the palace:
The palace is located on an area of 12.5 thousand meters Which was inspired by Anchor Wat Temple in a Cambodia And temples Orissa Hinduism , as the exterior palace balconies are carried on statues of Indian elephants, And ivory Spread inside and outside, windows rise and fall with Indian statues Buddhism , but inside the palace was a museum that includes antiques and statues of gold and platinum, as there is an ancient antique clock inside the palace said to be unparalleled except in Buckingham Palace royalist London It shows time in minutes, hours, days, months, and years, while showing changes in moon faces and temperatures.
The interior of the palace is small in size, it does not exceed two floors and contains only 7 rooms . The first floor is a large hall, three cabins2 , of which are for hospitality, and the third is used by Baron Empain as a playroom Billiards . As for the upper floor, it consists of 4 bedrooms, each with a bathroom attached to it . The floor of the palace is covered with marble and parquet, while the basement( basement ) used to have kitchens, garages, and servants’ rooms..
The floors of the palace are made of Marble The alabaster The original terms were imported from Italia Belgium , and its ornamentation tops the entrance to the statues of elephants. It is also spread on the outer walls of the palace and windows in the Arab style. It includes rare statues and antiques made with great precision from gold and platinum. And bronze , unlike sculptures Buddha And the dragon Legendary.
The palace consists of two floors and a basement) basement( and a large tower built on the left side consisting of 4 floors linked by a spiral staircase, its wooden sides are marked with marble, and on the railing ) fence ( stairs are inscriptions of bronze plates decorated with finely carved Indian sculptures.
The palace was designed in such a way that the sun never absent from its rooms and halls, and was used in its construction of alabaster, Italian marble, and Belgian crystal glass that sees from inside everyone outside and has a tower that rotates on a moving base a full turn every hour to allow those who sit by it to see what is in it in all Directions, and the last floor of the palace was my favorite place The baron has amban To have tea at sunset, around the palace was a courtyard garden with rare flowers and plants, and there is also a tunnel connecting the palace and the ancient church. “a church The basilica ” so far.
First floor :
The ground floor consists of huge halls with a large number of doors and balconies . In the table hall, fees were taken from Michelangelo Vinci’s friendlier The Rembrandt Each of the four pillars bore a pillar bearing a finely crafted statue of precious Indian statues.
The basemen ) basement( fitted with wide boards , Butler accommodations, massive ovens, marble sinks and a dining room connects with a luxurious lift made of walnut·
On the walls of the table hall are drawings taken from Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt and the floors of the rooms are made of parquet, and each room has its own bathroom, the walls are covered with tiles made of Mosaic Blue and orange colors in exquisite color combinations.
And a marble staircase is decorated with handrails, which includes statues Indian Small, delicate and well-made, we go up to the second floor, which consists of a large hall and 4 bedrooms, each with its own bathroom which is covered with mosaic tiles..
The second floor :
As for the second floor of the palace, it contains several spacious rooms overlooking the four streets of the palace, where the palace overlooks Al-Oruba Street And Ibn Battuta And Ibn Jubair And Hassan Sadiq . And in these rooms, terraces are covered Mosaic Colorful, as there are crooked chairs on each balcony, if anyone sat on any of them, the sculptures surrounded it from each side.
Palace surface :
As for the surface of the legendary palace, it was more like a park used in some concerts held by the Baron, and the walls of the roof have plant and animal drawings and fairy creatures, and ascends to it by a ladder made of luxurious rose wood, it was more like a cafeteria that had large tables and the surface walls were decorated with floral designs And animal.
Statues :
Most of the statues in the palace were brought Baron Empain From India There are also a number of European-style statues, made of white marble, with features Romanian Similar to the knights of the two ages Greek The Roman. The research of a specialist in the field of plastic arts revealed the origins of these statues and their great museum significance , as well as revealed some statues that were previously present in the palace and which are no longer present In addition to the dancers’ statues, they perform dance-like movements Ballet In addition to statues Elephants Scattered on the terraces of the palace and on the balcony of its gates are decorated with decorations The Greeks Precise old made and this made her look so beautiful
The palace after the death of the baron :
He died Baron Empain in a 22 July 1929 Since this date, the palace has been at risk of neglect for many years, and its once-lush gardens have turned into ruins, and the palace has been deserted . After that, the palace was exposed to the risk of neglect for many years, in which its gardens were transformed into ruins, and the efforts of his heirs and those who tried to buy and invest the palace were dispersed, until the Egyptian government took a decision to include it in the tourism sector and the Egyptian Antiquities Authority, which started the process of reconstruction and restoration in the hope of turning it into a museum or one Egyptian presidential palaces.
The palace was only opened a few times the first time when the Belgians’ money was placed in Egypt in a year 1961, I entered guard committees to inventory its contents, and the second time when I entered it Hussein Fahmy And the singer Shadia To shoot the fugitive movie, and the third time when filming a song for the singer Mohamed Al-Helou in a video clip. As for the fourth, it was done illegally because of his continuous closure, people around him spun many fairy tales, including that he became a shelter Demons , where young people targeted him to hold a noisy party that ended in a criminal case that occupied Egyptian public opinion in 1997. As for its opening for the fifth time when it entered the palace Ahmed Helmy And it includes Shalaby In the movie sorry for the inconvenience . Muhammad Saad also entered him to shoot some scenes of his movie My life is wasted And you can see some scenes in the new film and also when shooting a video clip ” first time ” to Donia Samir Ghanem and Mohammad Hamaki series of hankering.
The Baron Palace and the Devil’s Worship Community :
The mysterious atmosphere surrounding the abandoned palace prompted groups of young Egyptians in mid- 1997 in a famous incident to infiltrate the palace at night and hold loud parties, as they were dancing and singing to the music Black Metal Noisy, where the Egyptian police arrested them to be the first case of its kind, which is known as the case “Devil worshippers” This is why Myths That the neighbors hesitated about seeing bright lights, loud noise, dancing and dancing every night inside the palace and music emitting from it..
Palace final status :
In celebration of the centenary of Heliopolis, the Baron Empain Palace found a solution after the suffering that lasted 50 years. After half a century, the palace became Egyptian after the engineer Muhammad Ibrahim Suleiman entered into an agreement with the heirs of the palace owners. Jean Empain The grandson of Baron Empain bought the palace in exchange for giving them an alternative plot of land In New Cairo To establish investment projects.
This is a tourist airspace in one of the greatest palaces of Egypt, and follow us to meet in the upcoming tours with tourist tours to get to know the most important monuments and features of ancient Egypt .
With greetings from the Star Shine Tourism team .
