The Baron Empain Palace in Egypt

The palace of Baron empan or (French: Le Palais Hindou) or (English: The Hindu Palace) is one of the archaeological palaces of Egypt with a special architectural style. It was built by the Belgian millionaire Baron Edouard Joseph Empain (French: Édouard Louis Joseph Empain, Baron Empain), who came to Egypt from India at the end of the 19th century

he chose a design in the style of Indo-European architecture by the French architect Alexandre Marcel the palace was built in 1906 and opened in 1911. Since the fifties, with the transfer of ownership of the palace, the palace began to be neglected until the Egyptian government bought it in 2005 for its archaeological and architectural value, and the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities began restoration work in 2017, which ended with its opening in 2020. The palace is currently located in the heart of the Heliopolis district of Cairo.

Originator

Baron Edouard Louis Joseph Empain (French: Édouard Louis Joseph Empain, Baron Empain) is an engineer, entrepreneur, financier, industrialist and wealthy traveler from Belgium born on September 20, 1852, Leopold II of Belgium awarded him the title of Baron in 1907 in recognition of his efforts in financing the colonies of the Belgian Kingdom.

The Baron's activity was not limited to the economic and engineering fields only, but also extended to the fields of travel and travel, so he went with his money to several countries such as Mexico, Brazil, the Congo and India, where he was able to develop his wealth, and ended up traveling to Egypt, he arrived in Cairo at the end of the nineteenth century, specifically several years after the opening of the Suez Canal. He wrote in his will that he should be buried in its territory even if he passed away outside it, which happened after he died in Belgium on July 22, 1929, and his body was transferred to the Basilica Church in Heliopolis

The engineer Alexandre Auguste Louis Marcel was a French architect and urban planner (September 11, 1860 - June 30, 1928), elected on November 27, 1926 as a member of the Academy of Fine Arts (Department of architecture), his most important works include the Baron's Palace and the Grand Hall of the Heliopolis hotel in Cairo, the Maharaja Kapurthala Palace in India, the Japanese tower .

When the Baron decided to build his own palace in the then newly created Egyptian suburb "Heliopolis", he chose the design of the French architect Alexandre Marcel (English: Alexandre Marcel) during his exhibition at an engineering exhibition in Paris in 1905, which was distinguished by an interior design in the style of the European Middle Ages and an exterior design in the style of Hindu temples, examples of which are the Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia and the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Cambodia the state of Uttar Pradesh and the temples of the state of Odisha in India. While the decoration of the palace was entrusted to the artist Georges Louis Claude (English: Georges Louis Claude

History

Baron empan presented to the Egyptian government the idea of creating a neighborhood in the desert east of Cairo and chose the name (Heliopolis), i.e. "the city of the sun", and the Baron bought the acre for only one pound because of the lack of facilities, transportation and services in the area, and so that the Baron could attract people to his new suburb, he thought about creating a metro and commissioned the Belgian engineer Andre Barcelo, who was working at that time with the Paris metro company to create a metro line connecting the new suburb to Cairo, and also started erecting houses in the classic Belgian style in addition to large areas with gardens, and built a huge hotel the ancient Heliopolis, which was later included in the presidential palaces of Egypt and is currently used as a headquarters Official of the president of the Republic under the name "Federal Palace". 

his death in 1946, he was buried next to his father in the Basilica Church. Ownership of the Palace then passed to the descendants of Baron empan after the death of their father "Jean", and since that time the palace has been neglected for many years, and then sold in 1954 with its contents through a public auction to the Syrian Mohammed Bahjat Al-Kassem, Saudi Mohammed Ali Reza and his brother Ali Reza for an amount of 160 thousand pounds only. In 1993, the palace was officially registered as a monument. In 2005, the Egyptian Ministry of housing bought it from the Syrian and Saudi owners of the palace in exchange for giving them an alternative plot of land in New Cairo at a value equal to the estimated price of the palace at that time, which was 125 million Egyptian pounds (21.5 million US dollars).

Uses of the palace before the restoration

In addition to its use as a photographic location, the palace has appeared several times in several works of art, including:

The fugitive, produced in 1974, starring Shadia, Maryam Fakhreddine, Kamal El-Shenawy and Hussein Fahmy. Sorry for the inconvenience, produced in 2008, starring Ahmed Helmy and Mona Chalabi. The film The Baron's Palace, announced in 2013 and not shown, starring Razan Mughrabi, Saleh and Randa Al-Bahiri. The film My Life is delightful, produced in 2015, starring Mohammed Saad and Nicole Saba. The first time clip, produced in 2015, is sung by Mohammed Hamaki and Dunia Samir Ghanem. The film Forbidden Zone, produced in 2016, stars Mohamed Fikri, Yasmin Omar, and Adel Abdel Razek. In 1997, some young people illegally exploited him to hold a noisy party, which ended in a criminal case that preoccupied the Egyptian public opinion

Restoration

In 2017, the Arab Contractors Company commissioned by the Engineering Authority of the armed forces in cooperation with the Ministry of Antiquities began the restoration of the Palace, after receiving all the documents and studies for the project from the consulting office commissioned by the Ministry of antiquities to carry out studies for the restoration and development of the palace. The project was estimated to cost EGP 113.738 million with government funding, and Belgium contributed a grant of EGP 16 million. The restoration work was completed and the palace was opened on June 29, 2020 in the presence of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, prime minister Mustafa Madbouly and Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled al-Anani. Works of consulting studies Monitoring and cadastral lifting of the impact and determining its structural condition. The size and number of existing cracks, the condition of the soil and foundations. Photographic documentation, excavations and excavations indicated the structural stability of the building. Preparation of an integrated documentation file for all archaeological elements, facades and horizontal projections of the palace using three-dimensional scanning and integrated monitoring stations. Restoration work Structural reinforcement of ceilings, their restoration, facade finishing, cleaning and restoration of decorative elements. Complete the shortcomings of doors and windows and remove all ceilings and stucco cornices. Restoration of marble columns, wooden doors, metal windows. Restoration of decorative iron windows on the main facades and the Fresco above the main entrance, marble statues. Raising the efficiency of the general location of the palace and landscaping its garden.

The original Palace color

During the restoration work, and with the color of the palace changing from what is familiar to the public, criticism of the color on which the palace appeared appeared, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities responded that the original color of the palace is the color of the burnt year, and that the original color of the palace was not changed after restoration, but the thing was returned to:

"That the facades were covered in a white color with a burnt brick color inspired by the twelfth–century temples of North India" - Amelie D'arschot, Le roman d'Heliopolis, Page 178
"That Baron empan wanted to distinguish his palace from the rest of the buildings of Heliopolis, which was characterized by the color of the desert's 'earthy color' and chose burnt brick" - Anne Van Loo, Helopolis-Page 135
A historical French document dating from the date of the construction of the palace in 1911, that the palace was painted with Burnt Sienna and Burnt Brick.
Also, the photographic documentation that was done before the restoration shows the white color of the interior of the cavernous basement of the entrance, which is made of gypsum, as well as the color of the facades before the restoration work, which is a burnt brick color, the colors that appeared after cleaning and removing dirt.

Arrival and entry

The palace is on the outside and is surrounded by the four streets.
The main entrance to the palace is located on the road leading to Cairo International Airport (Oruba Street) in the Heliopolis neighborhood, surrounded by four streets from its four directions: Oruba, Ibn Battuta, Ibn Jubeir, and Hassan Sadek. It can be reached using public transport or private cars, or by subway, and get out of the "Girls' College Station" and walk for several minutes until reaching the palace. The dates for visiting the palace start from 9 am to 4 pm.