Amira Elhamy investigates to know more about the boost that the cultural platform is experiencing though giving a facelift to many historical architectural gems that will soon open its doors to visitors!
Recently, the Egyptian government has been doing nothing but beating up the rumors that has been circulating about neglecting the old capital with its old heritage and focusing solely on new suburbs; according to various experts interviewed by MEO in several sectors, as the real estate, tourism and antiquities, the Egyptian government is implementing a strict plan that aims to revive the beauty of the old city of Cairo in order to pave the way for a new cultural touristic city that will boost the tourism indicators up.
A significant part of the Egyptian government plan is restoring the old palaces, whether it belongs to the Royal family or not, in order to make the best use of those architectural masterpieces.
According to Dr. Gamal Abdel Rehim, professor of archeology and Islamic art at the faculty of Archeology, Cairo university, the first main aim behind this governmental plan is boosting the cultural platform in Egypt, as many of those palaces will be open its doors to visitors as museums or exhibitions, and one of those successful examples that has been beautifully restored and used as a museum and an exhibition is the Palace of Aisha Fahmy, which is overlooking the Nile in the island of Zamalek.
Dr. Abdel Rehim, explains that various palaces, especially the residential ones, have been used for years as public schools, governmental institutes or ministries, and a lot were simply neglected until they reached a bad condition.
Many of those palaces belongs to the Royal Family of Mohamed Aly and they date back to the 19th and the 20th century. The current governmental plan is moving those governmental institutes out of those architectural masterpieces, in order to boost the cultural platform in Egypt. On the other hand, the Ministry of Antiquities with the collaboration of the Ministry of tourism who joined forces recently shall make the best use out of those palaces after restoring them.
Dr. Gamal adds that the coming big cultural/touristic event that is going to transform the cultural/touristic platform in Egypt, is the Grand opening of the Heliopolis landmark, Baron Empain Palace.
known as “The Hindu Palace”, as it reflects the Indian architecture at its best!, this masterpiece was built to be the residential house of Baron Empain, the wealthy Walloon Belgian engineer/entrepreneur who founded Heliopolis neighborhood and the electric railways around this area as well. The palace was designed by French architect Alexandre Marcel and decorated by Georges-Louis Claude, inspired by the Hindu temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, it was built between 1907 and 1911.
“ Despite the Indian architect of Baron Palace, we can find inside this beautiful artwork
several Islamic designs! and visitors will sure notice this after the opening takes place”, says Dr. Gamal.
Being a member of the restoration committee of Baron Palace, Dr. Abdel Rehim exclusively informed MEO that after the grand opening of Baron palace, it will open its doors as a museum that will exhibit all we need to know about Heliopolis neighborhood; furthermore the ministry of tourism and antiquities managed to get a real old railway cabinet to be displayed also in the museum so visitors can know more about the history of Heliopolis and the history of establishing the electric railways in this old beautiful neighborhood.
“Such a museum will sure unveils rich and sophisticated information to visitors and tourists about the Egyptian civilization since the beginning of the 20th century till nowadays . ”
Regarding the restoration work that the Palace undertook, Dr. Gamal explains that the restoration work was accomplished by Egyptian experts; furthermore the Palace was not painted with a new color as some pictures show a new color to the palace and many people, on social media, had a negative feedback about this color; however, this was actually the real color of the palace! believe it or not, what has been done is removing the grey color that covered the façade of the palace for many years and returning the palace to its original color, which is burnt sienna according to historical documents, one of which is the book Le roman d’Héliopolis by historian Amelie D. Arschot.
This smart move that the government took will not only give a significant boost to the cultural platform in Egypt, but it will also help in boosting the tourism sector in Egypt; opening such museums will generate revenues that the Egyptian economy is in need for.
On the other side that is facing the Hindu palace, lies another important palace, which is Palace of Princess Malak from the royal family, which has been aggressively used as a secondary school for many years! This palace will also experience a facelift!.
Related to Abdeen palace, Dr. Gamal indicates that this palace is under the authority of the presidency, however there will be a plan soon to open certain divisions of the palace for visitors.
