Baron Empain Palace to reopen in October

Ali Abu Dashish

Historic Cairo Restoration Project official Mohamed Abdel Aziz said 80 % of Baron Empain restoration project has been completed and the remaining part is due to be finished in October 2019.

"The restoration project costs hit 100 million pounds," Abdel Aziz said.

Baron Empain’s Palace was built in 1906 to be the residence of the Belgian industrialist Edouard Empain who came to Egypt in 1904 to construct a railway line linking the lower Egyptian city of Mansoura to Matariya on the far side of Lake Manzala.

Assistant to Minister of Antiquities Nevin Nizar said after reopening, the palace will include an exhibition of a number of maps, photos and archives as well as documentaries that tell the history of Heliopolis.

Baron Empain Palace

The ministry of antiquities spent a huge sum of money to change the palace from a forsaken palace to join Cairo sightseeing tours, she added.

The restoration project is done in cooperation with the Belgian Embassy in Cairo and civil society associations.

French architect Alexandre Marcel built the palace in the Avenue of Palaces in Heliopolis (now Al-Orouba Street), being inspired by the Cambodian temple of Angkor Wat and the Hindu temple of Orissa.

Marcel incorporated into the external design reproductions of a variety of human figures, statues of Indian dancers, elephants, snakes, Buddhas, Shivas and Krishnas. Marcel’s colleague Georges-Louis Claude designed the interior and the decoration. Both architects were well-known at the time, and they had already constructed the Oriental Pavilion attached to the Royal Palace of Laeken in Belgium.

Baron Empain Palace

The palace consists of two floors and a small extension near the roof. Windows studded with small pieces of Belgian glass were especially created so as not to lose sight of the sun during the day.

Construction was completed in 1911, and the palace was surrounded by a landscaped garden adorned with ascending green terraces, each with its own set of marble statues and exotic vegetation.