Baron Empain Palace
The Baron Empain Palace (also Palais Hindou or Qasr al Baron ) is a palace in Heliopolis , a suburb of Cairo, completed in 1905 .
The Hindu-style palace was built in the desert by the French architect Alexandre Marcel on behalf of Édouard Louis Joseph Empain . Georges-Louis Claude was responsible for the interior . It was not until 1908 that the construction of the suburb of Heliopolis, of which the palace is a part, began.
The facade of the palace is richly decorated with sculptures of snakes, dragons and other figures. Artists and craftsmen came from Indonesia . The building has two floors and a basement. There is a family mausoleum there. The palace is made entirely of concrete and is an early example of the creative use of this then new building material. Much of the original furnishings have now been lost, and for many years the palace was considered a place of ghosts, which in reality turned out to be bats.
The ghosts are said to have been the baron's sister, Helena, and the baron's daughter Miriam. Helena fell from a balcony of the palace and was fatally injured. Empain's daughter Miriam was handicapped and was treated cruelly by her father, for example by locking her in the basement of the palace - so it was said. Eventually she was found dead in the dining elevator; it is unclear whether she died by suicide.
The palace remained in the possession of the Baron Empain's family until 1957, when it was sold to a Saudi Arabian . The palace was to be converted into a hotel or nightclub, but this failed due to monument protection requirements. In 2005 the building became the property of the Egyptian state in exchange for land. The palace was completely cleaned and the bats scared away. In 2007 the attempt to restore the palace together with an Indian company failed. Since 2009 it is planned to carry out the restoration together with a Belgian company and to convert the palace into an international cultural center. Work started in November 2016. In 2019 it was reported that the work was finished; it is now planned to set up a museum in the building that will show the history of the Heliopolis district.
Web links
- Baron Empain Palace on Archnet
- The Baron's Palace
- Nevine El-Aref: "Cultural enterprise puts a stop to batty tales". In: Al-Ahram Weekly. May 17-23, 2012. Issue No. 1098
Individual evidence
- ^ The Dreamworld of Baron Empain. In: The Towner. April 1, 2016, accessed April 9, 2017 .
- ^ Antiquities Minister says restoration of Baron Empain Palace in the works. In: Egypt Independent. February 14, 2016, accessed April 9, 2017 .
- ↑ Al-Masry Al-Youm: Baron Empain Palace to house heritage exhibition on Heliopolis history. In: egyptindependent.com. January 4, 2019, accessed July 8, 2019 .
Coordinates: 30 ° 5 ′ 12 ″ N , 31 ° 19 ′ 49.1 ″ E