Kasan Palace in Assiut .. Rare Gem

Kasan Palace” is considered to be one of the important archaeological palaces. The palace is located in the center of Assiut on the banks of the Nile River. It is an architectural masterpiece created in the European style of Rococo and Baroque decorations on its facades and the use of decorative elements that represent the symbols of the early renaissance model in Britain. The palace is now on Egypt’s antiquities list almost a century after its construction.

The two floors for Alexan’s family and the top floor for the servants. The first floor has two large rooms and the eastern one being the reception hall with a number of salons in different colors, decorative motifs styles and with European oil paintings hanging on the walls as well as a number of showcases filled with small European-style antiques.

The second hall was used as the dining room and holds three sets of tables and chairs and three cupboards laden with silver pieces.

The objects includes pottery, papyrus, scarabs and statues, cosmetics, coins, coloured engravings, fabrics, Stelae ”engraved stone slabs”, coffins; gilded mummy masks, a wooden sarcophagus covered with gold leaf patterns and inscribed with religious texts as well as a mummy with a broke leg. There are also Islamic military equipment and soldiers’ uniforms.

European style of Rococo and Baroque decorations

After 1952 Revolution, the owner offered his collection to the antiquities department. The administrative board allocated the second floor of the library as temporary museum space for the collection until a special building was constructed to house it.

In 1995, owing to the exquisite and unique architectural features of the house, the Ministry of Culture and the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) put the palace on Egypt’s antiquities list, but the lack of money delayed all work on restoring the palace until 2004.

Palace boasts magnificent exterior and interior architecture, and includes a collection of paintings by European artists. It was designed and decorated by Italian, French, and British 19th-century architects.