A neglected palace on a main road haunted by rats, stray dogs and bats could well be a rich subject for all manners of fables, legends and rumours, Mona Fathi has found out. The palace I am talking about is the Baron's Palace located on the Airport Road, which has been deserted for many years. In the past, this place attracted teenagers, who used to slip into the palace to drink alcohol and smoke drugs at wild parties. In the 1990s, the palace was said to be filled with Satan-worshipping youths who would skin cats, hold orgies and write their names on the walls in rats' blood. Teenagers and drug addicts would hang out in the basement of the building. The story of the palace began in 1904 when the Belgian industrialist baron Empain (1852-1929) arrived in Egypt to build a railway from el-Matariya to Port Said. The project fell through, but, instead of going back home, he decided to start another one, as he'd fallen in love with Egypt and its desert. His dream was to build a residential area, 'a city of luxury and leisure', six miles from the centre of the capital. It seemed odd at the time to build a new city in the middle of nowhere, but Monsieur le Baron never gave up on his dream. He set up the Heliopolis Oases Company in 1905, buying land at a low price from the Government on the same site as the ancient city of Heliopolis or On, as it is called in the Holy Bible. After that, he decided to build himself a residence in Heliopolis, or Masr el-Gedeeda as it's known locally. He chose a prestigious location and ordered Alexander Marcel, a famous French architect, to construct a Hindu palace for him. Marcel got the best Indonesian architects and sculptors to help him decorating the exterior of the palace with busts and statues of elephants, snakes and Buddhas. The Baron's Palace consists of two floors, as well as two floors below ground. The below-ground floors contain a secret tunnel that connects the palace with the large church, Baron built nearby, called La Basilique and known locally as Kanisat el-Baron. It took Marcel three whole years to finish this work of art in a location that enabled Baron to watch his dream city as it rose from the sand. The deterioration of the palace began after the death of Baron Empain, when it was sold to a Saudi family who then owned it for quite some time. This family wanted to sell it at a huge profit, so that it could be turned into an hotel, but the Government rescued the building and declared it as a listed monument in the 1980s, compensating the owners with another piece of land in the district of Qattamiya (New Cairo). Last May, Egypt's First Lady Suzanne Mubarak launched a campaign to restore the palace, to coincide with the celebrations marking the centenary of the founding of Heliopolis. Work has started on restoring the large garden that surrounds the palace, but there's still a long way to go. The garden has now regained its former beauty and it looks wonderful from the Airport Road as you pass by at night. It's strange to think that almost every visitor to the country drives past this almost-century-old mansion, once was as vampires homes.
I would really love a tour if this palace. Its a jpg on my hard drive and I am working on making a cross-stitch pattern too.
Posts: 5744 | From: Minneapolis, Mn USA | Registered: Mar 2004
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I love this palace!!! My fiancé used to play inside when he was a small kid (no, that wasn't for smoking drugs!).
Posts: 531 | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Barbapapa: I love this palace!!! My fiancé used to play inside when he was a small kid (no, that wasn't for smoking drugs!).
I want to see it badly. I just hope that Suzane Mubarak can push these remodeling twits faster than the remodeling twits of Minnesota so its ready for me when I do manage to make it over to Egypt again!
Just imagine this being turned into a hotel!
I'd love to be able to spend a night here! Posts: 5744 | From: Minneapolis, Mn USA | Registered: Mar 2004
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I was just there last month. It's looking great. I have pics if anyone wants to see them. Its beauty can't be caught in a picture though.
Posts: 100 | From: Fredericksburg, VA, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote:Originally posted by amrssnowangel: I was just there last month. It's looking great. I have pics if anyone wants to see them. Its beauty can't be caught in a picture though.
attach them to www.imageshack.us and post the hyperlinks here at ES in a post.
I'd love to see them. Posts: 5744 | From: Minneapolis, Mn USA | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote:Originally posted by amrssnowangel: I was just there last month. It's looking great. I have pics if anyone wants to see them. Its beauty can't be caught in a picture though.
attach them to www.imageshack.us and post the hyperlinks here at ES in a post.
I'd love to see them.
Here are links to some historical pictures as well as some blurbs on the life and times of Baron Empain.
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